Saints' runners have strong showing at Flames Invitational

ROME - After being washed out of Cleveland, Tenn. because of Hurricane Ivan, the Flames Invitational was moved to Berry College in Rome. Saints junior Irina Watkins of Varkaus, Finland ran the course in 19:29.34, 45 seconds faster than the second finisher, to win the women&#39;s 5k race. <br> <br> For the men, junior Kelly Parr of Maysville took ninth overall with a time of 29:32.30 and the Saints finished 5th overall. <br> <br> With only four runners the North Georgia women were unable to compete for the team competition, but ran a very strong race. Following Watkins first place finish was junior Anna Roller of Commerce who ran a personal best 23:03.00 and past three runners at the finish to place 21st overall. <br> <br> Freshman Katie Inhulsen used a strong finishing kick to giver her a time of 24:10.33, good for 30th place overall. Rounding out the women&#39;s results was freshman Patricia Faulkner who finished 37th overall with a personal best time of 25:16.53. <br> <br> The Saints men&#39;s team finished fifth overall and were led by Parr&#39;s ninth place finish. Coming in at 12th place with a time of 29:40.92 was sophomore Bryan Harris of Cleveland. Blairsville freshman Matthew Ueltzen and junior Matt Temples of Cumming finished in 19th and 20th overall in times of 30:16.14 and 30:16.85 respectively. Junior Jordan Hembree finished in 37th place in a time of 33:22.25 followed by sophomore Jason Geiger of Sugar Hill, who finished in 44th place with a time of 36:05.55 to round out the men&#39;s team. <br> <br> The Berry College won both the women&#39;s and men&#39;s team overall title. Johnny Clemons won the men&#39;s race for Lee University in a time of 26:02.61. <br> <br> North Georgia will be running again next Saturday as they head to Louisville, Ky. for the Greater Louisville Cross Country Classic. The men&#39;s race begins at 9:30 am with the women running at 10:30 a.m.