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WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Cardinal Women's Cross Country team picked up a nice victory Saturday at its annual Otterbein Invitational, coming in first out of 16 schools in what was a rather strong showing.

Otterbein, entering the week ranked No. 27 in the national poll, placed four runners in the top 15 and eight inside the top 30. Overall, 208 competitors took part in the race.

"We knew Ohio Wesleyan and Findlay were pretty good coming in, but we came out and made sure to get the job done," head coach Dara Ford said. "It was our first 6K of the year, and the first that each of our freshmen had ever run. We had three of them in our top seven, so it was good to see them react well to the distance. It was just a solid team race."

Leading the way was standout freshman Claire Lamb, who ran her way to the individual title with a time of 21:58.8. She finished more than 10 seconds ahead of the next runner.

"She comes from a very good high-school program," Ford said of Lamb. "Surprisingly, she only ever won one high school meet because there were some other kids in front of her. It's nice to see her come out and win the first two meets of her college career, especially because she is running with a lot of confidence. These next couple meets will be a good test for her. So far, she is managing expectations and having fun."

Senior Victoria Konkle followed Lamb with a seventh-place finish (23:04.2) while freshman Kira Judd wasn't far behind with a time of 23:21.2, good enough for 10th.

Junior Julissa Poullet (23:30.6), classmate Alex Winter (23:46.5) and freshman Lindsey Ruff (23:56.1) all recorded top-20 finishes as well.

"This team definitely carries each other through," Ford said. "Victoria had a good race and some other freshmen really stepped up nicely. They aren't afraid to get in there and mix it up. Sometimes you see new kids a little hesitant to step on anyone's toes, but these girls are hungry. They want to do good things and win championships."

Otterbein will have nearly two weeks off before heading to compete in the All-Ohio Championships, at Cedarville University, on Friday, Oct. 2.

"We need to close our gaps between our first and fifth runners, on both teams," Ford explained. "We need to stay healthy, keep improving and not rest with where we currently are. We have some big meets coming up that are no joke, so this was our last tune-up before things get serious."