(September 26, 2008 - Lansing, Mich.) -- In one of the most crowded fields of the season, 108 runners in the women's portion of the Lansing Invitational, the Concordia women's cross country team saw their members all finish with season bests as they continue to develop and grow the fledgling program. Gwendolyn VanDerworp (So. - Milford, Mich.) was the first Cardinal harrier to finish as she did so in a time of 20:58, good for 41st overall.

Kylen Cieslak of Northwood University won the 5K race with a time of 18:15 with Joyce Woki of Spring Arbor University 30 seconds behind as she was the first NAIA runner to finish and third overall.

For VanDerworp, it was the first time this season that she broke the 21:00 mark, as she cut 28 seconds off her previous season-best time, set at the Bowling Green Invitational two weeks ago.

Cree Thompson (Fr. - Detroit, Mich.) was the next Cardinal to cross the line as she finished a little more than a minute behind VanDerworp with a time of 22:08 and a 66th place finish. Thompson missed the first race of the season, and in her third race of her career shaved an amazing 44 seconds from the time she set at the UD-Invitational on Sept. 6.

Sarah Card (So. - Cadillac, Mich.) continues to improve as a runner as well as she finished with a season-best time of 25:04, which was good for 100th in the race. Card's previous best time of the year came on Sept. 6 at the UD-Invitational when she crossed at 25:37 - so the time of 33 seconds better in Lansing is a great improvement for the young runner.

The team will be back on a course soon as they head to the Wisconsin Lutheran Warrior Classic next Saturday (Oct. 4).