EMMITSBURG, Md.--Three members of the Hood College women's cross country made the short jaunt to Emmitsburg, Md., Friday afternoon to compete against Division I programs from across the region in Hood's first competition of the fall at Mount St. Mary's University.

Hood was the only Division III squad at the meet. Senior captain Danielle Sgro held her own against some of the area's best runners, finishing 37th of 66 competitors with a time of 21:22.81. The freshman duo of Maria Moss and Sarah Morris, competing in their first cross country race in the blue and gray, finished with clockings of 23:35.81 and 24:03.49, respectively. Following the meet, Morris and Moss were given their “Hood College Cross Country Ballcaps,” a tradition started six years ago to mark an athlete’s first official finish representing Hood College in a cross country meet. These represented the 63rd and 64th caps awarded.

"Danielle had the best Hood performance on the day besting several Division I runners," said head coach Brent Ayer. "She approached 70 miles a week this summer and is just strong. Maria and Sarah both ran smart, disciplined races, starting at the back of the pack and working their way forward. I was very pleased with their start and they bring a lot of promise to our program. This was a nice start for all three runners.

"Hood purposely did not enter a complete team, in general if you were a woman and ran 30 miles a week this summer or a male who ran over 50 miles a week, we entered you. I wasn’t under any illusions that we would come close to these teams, but we wanted to compete for two reasons: this is the only sport where a small Division III program may stand on the same field as a top Division I program. You won’t find any other Hood team facing the University of Maryland. Secondly, we wanted our top runners to be personally aware of the talent and hard work of these athletes. You get an appreciation of it participating that you just don’t get reading box scores or looking in the sports pages."

Hood's next meet is slated for Saturday, Sept. 6, at Lebanon Valley College.