Megan Gray built upon her strong season this weekend, finishing second overall at the Eagle Invitational. Her effort was part of the reason the Belles finishd fourth overall in the event, held in Lisle, Ill. and hosted by Benedictine College.The six-kilometer race ran through scenic Lisle Community Park. The race featured 23 women's teams and 25 men's teams. The women's first-place team was Division-I Northern Illinois. The individual first-place finisher was Goshen College's Petrana Petkova, who came in at 22:45.5 minutes.Gray finished with a time of 23:18.6 to lead the Saint Mary's squad. Sara Otto was 19th overall, coming in at 24:45.0.Megan McClowery finished with the 27th best time of 25:15.3. Alicen Miller was 41st with 26:02.2 and Caitline Stevenson clocked in at the 26th minute, with a 26:34.6 - good for 48th overall.Rounding out the Saint Mary's finishers were Kelly Biedron and Emily Graf. Their placements went down to the wire. Beidron captured 52nd place with 26:44.9 minutes, and Graf recorded a 26.47.7 minute finish. The total team score of 137 put Saint Mary's behind Northern Illinois, Goshen and St. Joseph's. The Belles were the only participant from the MIAA conference.The total team time was 125:58, good for a Belles average time of 25:12.The strong showing at the Eagle Invitational follows a 17th overall team finish out of 33 teams at the Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational. Saint Mary's was fifth overall at the first MIAA Jamboree of the season on Sept. 23.Next up for the Belles is the Manchester College (Ind.) Invitational, starting at 8 a.m. on Oct. 14.
