GREEN BAY, Wis.- The Mount Mary College cross country team hit the trail running Saturday, finishing 10th out of 12 collegiate teams at the Tom Barry Invitational in Green Bay's Colburn Park. Not only was it the first race of the 2012 season, it was the first career race for many of this year's Blue Angels squad.

"Mount Mary started out on a very promising note as everyone on the team put out a very credible effort," head coach Eugene Miranda said.

Junior Emily Barker (Oconomowoc, Wis.) set the pace for the Blue Angels finishing 12th overall with a race time of 20:22. Barker set a very strong 6:34 pace per mile Saturday and has already stepped into a leadership role on an otherwise relatively inexperienced running crew.

Junior Shantae Chapman (Milwaukee, Wis.) finished 78th overall with a time of 23:15 in her first collegiate race. Also making their first ever Cross Country appearances were seniors Lauren VanKray (Mayville, Wis.) and Kala Sanders (Milwaukee, Wis.).

The event, hosted by St. Norbert College, was won by the Knights with a top-five finishers' score of 58. The College of St. Scholastica finished second with 79 points, while Ripon College came in third with 113 overall. Mount Mary's 296 total team points came in just a shade behind Cardinal Stritch University and a strong 60 points ahead of crosstown rival MSOE.

The Blue Angels will head down Highway 94 to the UW-Parkside Midwest Open in rural Racine, Wis. Saturday. Start time for the womens' competition is scheduled for 10 a.m.