LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Wilmington College women’s cross country team finished 30th Saturday at the Louisville Classic cross country meet.

This meet was the first large-scale meet for the Fightin’ Quakers this season. The meet featured three NCAA DI teams, five NCAA DII teams, and 31 from “other divisions,” primarily NCAA DIII teams.

Each division of runners was further separated into a Gold and Silver group. Wilmington’s runners competed in the Silver, Other Divisions event. Their event fielded 265 runners.

“This was our first big meet of the year and our lack of big meet racing really showed,” WC head coach Ron Combs said. “The team seemed overwhelmed by the environment. Our workouts have shown we are a much better team. We get the opportunity next Friday to go and show that we are much better than how we ran today.”

Sophomore Allison Helmke was the first to cross the finish line for the Fightin’ Quakers. She posted a 22:01.37 to earn 160th-place in the 5,000-meter run.

Next in was freshman McKenzie Hamm, who was 193rd with a time of 22:44.36. Sophomores Kelly Rice, Kayla Thornberry, and freshman Summer Doty were the last of the Fighitn’ Quakers to cross the finish line for points. They finished 203rd (23:06.20), 227th (23:51.65), and 240th (24:27.57), respectively.

The Fightin’ Quakers head to the Eagle Invitational in Warrenville, Ill. Friday.