AIKEN, SC - The Francis Marion University men's and women's cross country teams placed seventh and eighth respectively at the 2011 Bridgestone-Pacer Invitational, hosted by USC Aiken at Pacer Path, Saturday morning (Sept. 17).

The meet served as the pre-conference race for the 2011 Peach Belt Conference Cross Country Championship, which will be held on Oct. 22 at Pacer Path.

Augusta State University easily claimed the team titles in both the men's 8,000-meter race and the women's 6,000-meter contest.

Junior Ian Wallace led the FMU men with a 28th-place showing and a time of 28:48.  Freshman Justin Koehn finished 34th in 30:02, while senior Ryan Woloszyn was 37th (30:29), freshman Alex McIntosh was 41st (30:52), and junior Justin Albertson was 43rd (31:25).

On the women's side, sophomore Whitney Wagner again paced the Patriots with a 13th-place finish in 25:29.  Senior Samantha Smith was 27th in 26:00, while sophomore Diana Levy was 61st (30:01), sophomore LaMeisha Jackson was 63rd (30:17), freshman Allyson Franklin was 65th (30:34), and sophomore London Barnhill was 66th (31:25).

Both Francis Marion squads will run in the Charlotte Invitational, Sept. 30 at 4 p.m.