Ruth White is two-for-two to start her sophomore cross country season at the University of New Hampshire.
The running phenom from Orono took first place at the Ted Owen Invitational in Connecticut over the weekend, finishing at the head of the pack with a time of 17:06:6 in the 5,000-meter race.
White finished approximately five seconds ahead of Brooke Strauss from the University of Connecticut at the meeting featuring teams from nine different schools.
It was the second race of the season for the UNH Wildcats. White previously finished first in the season opener with a time of 10:59.42 on the 3K home course for UNH.
Those back-to-back wins to start the cross country season followed a blistering summer for White, who earned All-American track honors in June by finishing among the top-10 Division I women in the 10K national final. She followed that up as the top Maine woman finisher in the TD Beach to Beacon 10K in Cape Elizabeth.
“She’s pretty incredible,” said Alison Duffy, an assistant coach on both UNH’s cross country and track teams, after White’s season-opening win. “She’s fun to watch, and she’s one in a million with just her natural abilities, her work ethic and so forth.”
White and her Wildcats teammates race next on Oct. 3 at a meet hosted by Lehigh University in Pennsylvania.
