HOOVER -- Sophomore Amber Duffin led the BYU women's cross country team to a second place finish at the Great American Invitational in Hoover, Ala. Competing in her first race of the season, Duffin finished third overall in the 5k with a time of 18:47.
"I felt like I ran really well today," said Duffin. "I had a hard training summer and I did what coach told me to do."
"I'm particularly pleased with Amber's performance," said head coach Patrick Shane. "I think she'll be in our top five. She's one of our most improved athletes. She really showed me what I thought she was capable of."
BYU finished second with 54 points behind the University of Alabama-Birmingham's 41 points.
Shane was pleased with the results of his individual runners as well as the depth that emerged during the meet.
"Our depth stepped up and ran a lot better," said Shane. "It was a really positive thing. It was a good meet for us."
Sarah Ingebretsen, a native of Salt Lake City, Utah, was BYU's second finisher with a time of 19:22.
Up next, both the men's and women's teams will prepare for the Bill Dellinger Invitational, hosted by the University of Oregon on Sept. 29.
"Next week at Oregon we will likely put our top five people on the starting line," said Shane. "When we put that group together we'll have a better idea of how good we really are."