BETHLEHEM, Pa, —
The U.S. Coast Guard Academy women's cross country team competed at the Paul Short Run on Friday, hosted by Lehigh University, placing 12th in a 45-team field.
The Paul Short is one of the largest and most prestigious cross country meets in the United States, with over 160 teams from across all three NCAA divisions drawn to Lehigh's Goodman Campus Course. Coast Guard ran in the White division, which is reserved for Division III teams holding national or regional rankings. The Bears appeared in both of the most recent USTFCCSA coaches polls, ranked 7th in the highly competititve Mideast Region and 19th nationally. Today's race pitted the Bears against 13 fellow nationally-ranked teams.
Team captain
Claire Semerod (Centennial, Colo.) once again led the way for Coast Guard and continued her streak of impressive races, placing 7th overall in front of a handful of last season's All-Americans with a personal record time of 21:13. The Bears' respective second and third runners,
Brooke Hunter (Phillipsburg, N.J.)) and captain
Lauren Mellon (Falls Church, Va.), also set new respective personal bests of 22:18 for 50th and 22:20 for 57th.
What really stood out to me was Lauren's race," says head coach
Greg Ahnrud. "She's been working hard and intelligently, coming back from a summer injury, so to drop over a minute from two weeks ago and setting a new personal best today was the difference-maker for us as a team. Her, Brooke, and Annabel continuing to progress together from here could really change what this team is capable of."
Mary Faltys (Schuyler, Neb.) was the team's fourth scorer, coming in at 23:00 and just a second ahead of
Kevyn Fish (Pittsburgh, Pa.), the 23:01 being a new personal best for the freshman. Rounding out the top seven were
Hannah Edwards (Highland Village, Tex.) and
Mia Mastrogiovanni (Manahawkin, N.J.), both crossing the finish line at 23:25. Three Bears who finished outside of the top seven also notched personal bests:
Laura Molner (Bremen, Germany) at 23:41; freshman
Gabbie Shord (Laurel, Md.) at 23:44; and senior
Jordan Prinner (Citrus Springs, Fla.) at 24:17.
"The ladies did what they needed to do today," says Ahnrud. "We were running without Annabel, who has been our #2 runner so far, so to hold our own in that field and notch a win against a nationally-ranked team is a good result. Claire and Brooke are both on a roll, and the depth and closeness of our four-through-ten runners is excellent right now."
Bears women's cross country now gets two weeks to train for their closest meet of the season, the Connecticut College Invitational at Harkness Memorial Park in nearby Waterford. The team placed 11th in last year's 38-team field, led by a seventh place finish for Semerod at 21:22 for the second-fastest time at Harkness in program history.
