CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Montreat College women's cross country team returned to competition late Friday afternoon at the Royals Cross Country Challenge, hosted by Queens University of Charlotte. Competing in the women's 5k gold race against a field that included eight NCAA Division I programs, the Cavaliers placed 17th out of 26 squads.

Montreat finished with 430 team points, placing 42 points ahead of Wallace State Community College and 28 points behind Converse University. Catawba College claimed the team title with 66 points, finishing 20 points better than Furman University.

Senior Macy Parks continued her impressive campaign by leading the Cavs with a personal-best time of 18:16.5 to place 38th among 221 runners. Carlyn Bobo followed in 49th with a career-best mark of 18:35.4, improving on her previous time by more than 10 seconds. Elena Fibraio also set a personal record, finishing 83rd in 19:07.8 and shaving nearly 28 seconds off her prior best.

Eliza Nelson added another personal best, clocking 20:40.0 to finish 172nd and improve on her previous mark by more than a minute. Newcomer Audrey Poole wrapped up Montreat's scoring five in 174th with a time of 20:42.1, cutting nearly a minute off her best competition effort.

Ragan Speer and Naomi Smith also competed for the Cavaliers on Friday afternoon. The former recorded a 21:33.2 to finish in 195th place, while the latter crossed the line in 23:20.9 for 216th overall.

"This is the best showing we have had as a team so far," said Head Coach Rylan Hincher. "We took incredible steps forward from what we did at the first two meets. Looking forward to this group making another jump in two weeks at the NAIA Appalachian Challenge."

For full results from the Royals Cross Country Challenge, click here.

Montreat returns to competition on Friday, Oct. 23 at the NAIA Appalachian Challenge, hosted by Tennessee Wesleyan University in Knoxville, Tenn.