DOYLESTOWN, Pa. - Eastern Women's Cross Country competed in its second race of the season at the Aggie Open hosted by Delaware Valley University. The Eagles placed fifth out of nine competing teams with a score of 112.

Heading into the race, the Eagles' goal was preview the course they would run later this fall for the MAC Championships.

"The course proved to be pretty technical and difficult," Smith said. "With that being said, today was all about competing and learning the course. We want to enter MACs knowing what to expect and how to run."

For the second time in two weeks, Eastern's young group performed well. First-year Ashley Bitler recorded a top-10 finish, placing eighth with a time of 24:48.3. Sophomore Julia Wade also finished in the top-20, crossing the finish line in 25:44.4. Fellow sophomore Mya Cadena also ran a career-best race on Saturday with a time of 29:18.5.

"I think we competed well today given the unexpected difficulty of the course," Smith continued. "Today was very insightful for how we should mentally and physically prepare for November. I was impressed with how some of our ladies fought through some tough parts of the race and gave a solid competitive effort. The next step of the season will be the fun part, where we get to travel to some fast courses and boost our confidence before heading into championship season."

Eastern will race again in two weekends at the Paul Short Run in Bethlehem.