WARRENVILLE, Ill. --- The NAIA No. 2-ranked University of St. Francis women's cross country team used four Top 25 finishes to hold off Hope College (Mich.) for third-place honors at the Wheaton College Gil Dodds Invitational on Saturday morning at St. James Farm Forest Preserve.

University of Chicago captured the meet title with five Top 10 finishes to total 24 points.  Washington University (Mo.) was second with 42 points, while the Saints ended with 102 points.  Hope was right behind with 103 points in the 18-team field.

Ana Mendoza Pineda just missed claiming a Top 10 finish by placing 11th overall with her time of 22:57.5 on the 6K course.  USF's next three finishers were all bunched together between the No. 17-22 slots.

Katherine Bakken led that three-person contingent with her 17th-place effort and 23:05.1 time.  Bailey Wilk was next in line in 19th place (23:10.9) followed by Allison Ramsey in 22nd (23:20).

Rounding out USF's scoring was Megan Ramsey with her time of 23:58.3 and 41st-place showing.

Top runner honors went to Chicago's Lucy Groothuis, who paced the 240-person field with her time of 22:01.4.

Notes: Pineda cut three seconds off her pace from two weeks ago when she averaged a time of 6:12 at USF's own Fighting Saints Twilight Invite.  On Saturday, she finished at a 6:09 clip per mile to claim top team runner honors.  Two weeks ago, she was St. Francis' fourth-best runner … The Saints head to Tom Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Ky. for their next meet, the Live In Lou Classic on Oct. 1.

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