Sept. 12, 2007

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Junior Merrecia James (Portland, Jamaica) finished second at the Towson Invitational this past weekend and with it posted the best time of any Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) runner. For that feat she was named the MEAC Cross-Country Athlete of the week. This is the first year the conference has given out the weekly award and James is the first women's recipient.

Among 144 runners James ran the course in 19:01, good enough for second place and a little behind her time the previous week when she won the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) Lid Lifter with a 18:53.83.

The Lady Hawks cross-country team took fourth place in the meet overall, besting five other MEAC schools in the 15 team field.

Sadly, James will not be able to repeat as the winner next week as the Hawks take a week off to prepare to host the UMES Cappy Anderson Invitational on September 22 in Princess Anne.