SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Freshman Joy Chirchir came in seventh place to lead Toledo to a ninth-place team finish in an elite field of runners at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational on Friday. 

Chirchir completed the 5000m "Blue" race in 16:23.6, about 13 seconds off the pace of medalist Mercy Chelangat of Alabama (16:10.3). She was in fourth place at the 4000m mark before settling for seventh place in the final leg of the race.

Toledo's other scorers were junior Faith Linga (50th/17:03.3), junior Lou Trois (56th/17:07.0), senior Semra Karaslan (71st/17:16.9) and sophomore Julia Dames (118th/17:35.6). 

The Rockets had 302 team points, finishing ahead of some of other top ranked such as No. 19 Notre Dame (14th), No. 21 Indiana (17th) and No. 29 Princeton (29th). Ranked schools in the Great Lakes Region that finished behind Toledo were No. 3 Notre Dame, No. 5 Indiana and No. 8 Purdue.

NC State won the Blue race with 38 points, followed by New Mexico with 94.

Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational
Friday, Oct. 1, 2021
Women's 5000m Blue Race

Team Scores
1. NC State - 38
2. New Mexico - 94
3. Alabama - 147
4. Washington - 189
5. Minnesota - 192
6. Ole Miss - 205
7. Florida State - 243
8. Kentucky - 278
9. Toledo - 302
10. Furman - 314
11. Butler - 327
12. Illinois - 331
13. Weber State - 336
14. Notre Dame - 345
15. Virginia Tech - 419
16. Princeton - 431
17. Indiana - 441
18. Purdue - 444
19. Southern Utah - 456
20. Vanderbilt - 463
21. Florida - 471
22. Virginia - 50757
23. Utah Valley - 544
24. Northwestern - 55625
25. Penn - 658

Top Five Individuals
1. Mercy Chelangat JR Alabama 16:10.3 
2. Flomena Asekol SO Alabama 16:10.7 
3. Kelsey Chmiel SO NC State 16:14.6
4. Stefanie Parsons SR New Mexico 16:18.3
5. Alison Pray SR Southern Utah 16:20.6

Toledo Individual Results - Blue Race
7. Joy Chirchir - 16:23.6
50. Faith Linga - 17:03.3
56. Lou Trois - 17:07.0
71. Semra Karaslan - 17:16.9
118. Julia Dames - 17:35.6
152. Claire Steigerwald - 17:54.7
169. Morgan Hicks - 18:10.6
180. Amanda Tremains - 18:27.1

Toledo Individual Results - Open Race
45. Maya Hannagan JR Toledo 18:33.3
57. Rebecca Snyder JR Toledo 18:46.4 
69. Megan Burmeister JR Toledo 18:59.7 
132. Jordyn Boyer SO Toledo 20:19.0