Girls' Cross-Country Caps Season with 'Unreal' Trip to Nationals

The girls’ cross-country team from capped its season with something it has never done before – a trip to the Nike Cross Nationals in Oregon.

Lead by freshman Emily Weigand in 117^th place in 19:34 on the 5K course, the team finished 22^nd out of 22 teams. The Generals earned the Nike-funded trip to the Nationals after .

Following Weigand were Generals runner Margaret Blatchford (146, 20:03), Emily Horgan (158, 20:18), Kerry Phelan (163, 20:23) Claire Pacione (177, 20:47), Sarah Duffy (188, 21:25) and Emily Senning (190, 21:30).

In a video interview from Oregon before Saturday’s race posted on the race website, team captain and senior Phelan said they had watched videos of the Nationals and had an idea of what to expect at the Nike campus.

“This is real,” she said.

The interviewer, Kevin Ullman of Runnerspace.com, also said he liked Phelan’s pants, calling her a “neon rock star.”

“That pretty much sums up our team right there,” said senior captain Emily Senning.

Pacione also gave credit to the team from Div. 5 rivals , which the Generals and then .

“They’ve been a great team to compete with this season,” she said.

Above all, the trip t

“Overall, everything has been unreal so far,” Pacione said after arriving.