South Bend, Ind. – Freshman sensation Sediah Erskine (Cleveland, Ohio/Rhodes HS) covered 5K in 18:02 to guide the University of Akron women’s cross country team to a fourth-place finish at the Notre Dame Invitational on Friday afternoon.

Erskine, who has finished in the top-five in all three of her collegiate races, ended the race in fifth place ahead of 178 other competitors. Fellow freshman Heidi Gross (Mansfield, Ohio /Lexington HS)  ended the race 27 seconds back of Erskine to earn a 14^th-place finish.

“I thought we did well,” women’s cross country coach Scott Jones said. “I thought coming into the race we had a good chance to be competitive. Of course we care about the end result, but I am just as proud at the way we approached this race as a team.”

Transfer Collen Moron (Poland, Ohio/Poland Seminary) ended the day in 29^th place as she crossed the finish line in 18:48. Senior Rachel Zubricky (Lakewood, Ohio/Lakewood HS)  completed the 5k trek through the Notre Dame Golf Course in 19:03 to finish in 48^th place

The Zips were bunched up in the backend with Gina DiAntonio (Stow, Ohio/Stow-Munroe Falls HS) (19:11) (62^nd), Jenny Richardson (Newark, Ohio/Newark Catholic HS) (19:12) (63rd) and Holly Sumser (Bellevue, Ohio/Bellevue HS) (19:14) (67th) all within three seconds of one another.

Indiana State (123) took top team honors followed by IPFW (129), Calvin College (130) Akron (158) and Ball State (168). Jackie Malette of Windsor University finished in first with a time of 17:33.

Jason Headman (Ashtabula, Ohio/Edgewood HS)  led the UA men in the 8K run with a time of 25:39 to finish 25th out of 205 runners, and teammate Craig Rupe (Cortland, Ohio/Maplewood HS) posted a 34^th-place finish for the Zips with a time of 25:46.

Senior Jeff Swartzel (Canal Fulton, Ohio/Northwest HS) ended the race in 59^th place after clocking in at 26:10, and sophomore Mike Baraona (Avon Lake, Ohio/Avon Lake) posted a mark of 26:29 to record an 89^th-place finish.

Mark Bogard (Cortland, Ohio/Lakeview) rounded out the Zips scorecard in 126^th with a time of 27:00.

Akron finished in 13^th place out of 25 teams in the race with 333 points. Calvin College (31) won the event followed by UW-Oshkosh (96), Notre Dame (138), Windsor (180) and North Central College (191).

Willy Kaul of UW-Oshkosh covered the 8K terrain in 24:28 to win the event.

The Zips will run again on Friday, Oct. 6, at the All Ohio Championships in Delware, Ohio. The action is set to begin at 2 p.m. EDT.