PISCATAWAY, N.J. (September 19, 2011)- The Rutgers women’s cross country team placed second in a 16-team meet with 71 points at the Monmouth Invitational in Holmdel, N.J. on Sept. 17.

“After only three weeks of training, Coach Jan (Merrill-Morin) is very pleased with the overall fitness and level of competition the ladies have shown in the early cross country season,” said head coach James Robinson. “We had several major time improvements from the same competition last year. As a coach, you want to see improvement from year to year on comparable competitions and courses and thus far that’s what the ladies have displayed.”

Quinnipiac won the meet with 43 points, followed by the Scarlet Knights in second and host Monmouth in third with 93 points.

Leading the Scarlet Knights was sophomore Brianna Deming (Webster, N.Y.) who placed eighth out of 156 competitors. Deming ran a time of 18:45.1 to pace RU. Also adding to the day for Rutgers was Anjelica Brinkofski (Somerset, N.J.), who finished 11th in 18:51, followed by Victoria Pontecorvo (Staten Island, N.Y.) in 13th with a time of 19:16.6. Rashmi Singh (Flemington, N.J.) took 20th in 19:27.2, while Allison Payenski (Whitehouse Station, N.J.) placed 21st in 19:27.5.

The Scarlet Knights will return to action on Friday, Oct. 7, at the Metropolitan Championships in Bronx, N.Y.

Rutgers Individual Times

8th         Brianna Deming                                18:45.1

11th       Anjelica Brinkofski           18:51

13th       Victoria Pontecorvo        19:16.6

20th       Rashmi Singh                     19:27.2

21st        Allison Payenski                                19:27.5

25th       Ashley Deckert                 19:29.8

35th       Lindsay Bertulis                 20:00.5

43rd       Darina Dinov                      20:09.1

49th       Felicia O’Donnell              20:17.6