Girls Heart Rockets, the running team captained by Physics graduate student Serena Eley, finished first in the Women's Division of the 2009 River-to-River Relay in southern Illinois on April 18.
The team of eight runners, which also included Physics undergraduate Niki Mansukhani, covered the 80-mile route in 9:47:31, nearly 11 minutes faster than the second-place finishers, "Shut Up and Run" from St. Louis, Missouri.
The teams compete on an 80-mile course that starts on McGee Hill in LaRue Pine Hills, a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River, winds through Shawnee National Forest, and finishes at the Ohio River in Golconda. The Relay is limited to 240 teams; the organizers received more than 300 applications in the first 5 minutes after registration opened in October.
In addition to Eley and Mansukhani, Girls Heart Rockets runners include a University of Illinois alumna (advertising), an Illinois science education graduate student, a graduate student in physics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, an Illinois civil engineering undergraduate, a personal trainer/kinesiologist from St. Louis, and a school teacher from Indiana.
The photo shows members of the 2009 Girls Heart Rockets' River-to-River team following the race. Niki Mansukhani is first on the left in the front row; Serena Eley, holding their first-place silver trophy, in standing at the far right.
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