NEW LONDON, Conn. — 

The U.S. Coast Guard Academy women's cross country team placed 15th in the Connecticut College Invitational at nearby Harkness Memorial State Park on Saturday. Like the Paul Short Run just two weeks ago, the meet featured a significant number of nationally ranked teams.

The event featured two races — a White Division race for teams outside of regional rankings, along with sub-varsity squads from teams holding regional rankings; and a Blue Championship race, for the varsity squads of teams holding regional or national rankings.

In the White Division, Coast Guard was led by freshmen Amanda Delevan (_) and Gabrielle Shord (_) and junior Laura Molner (_), who each ran 23:38, 23:50, and 24:03, respectively. Ryann Langdale (_), Devyn Durbin (_), Kate Stebbins (_), and Marin Baker (_) rounded out the scoring seven in the helping CGA to a 12th place finish. Baker's time was a near 20-second personal best on a 6km course.

In the Blue Championship race, senior captain Claire Semerod (_) continued her string of standout performances by running a new personal best of 21:09 and again notching individual finishes ahead of multiple 2024 All-Americans, and her time moved her up into third in program history. Fellow captain Lauren Mellon (_) finished second on the day for the Bears, running 22:33. She was followed by Kevyn Fish (_) and Mary Faltys (_), who ran respective personal bests of 22:54 and 23:00.

Madeleine Spaner (_) and Mia Mastrogiovanni (_) finished close together in 23:24 and 23:30 for fifth and sixth, with Hannah Edwards (_) rounding out the top seven in 23:58. As a team, Coast Guard finished 15th overall in the 33-team field and finished ahead of three nationally ranked teams, including two in higher positions: #29 Wesleyan University (Conn.),  #14 Washington and Lee, and #12 Amherst College.

"The ladies ran tough today, but we were facing some more adversity than in our previous meets. Brooke wasn't feeling well, so losing the person who has been our second or third finisher all season really hurt on the team standings, and I think a few other people weren't quite at 100% for the race," says head coach Greg Ahnrud. "While this wasn't quite the result we were aiming for this weekend, I'm confident in everyone's fitness, and we simply need to regroup and start sharpening up for championship season coming up."

Championship season starts in two weeks at the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championships on November 1st. Last year's squad finished as runners-up to MIT, with Semerod leading the sleuth by finishing fifth at 21:57. After the NEWMAC will be Conn College's D3 Challenge at Stenger Farm Park on November 8th before the team gets into the nitty-gritty of it at the NCAA Mideast Regional Championship, hosted this year by St. Lawrence University.

RESULTS