PURCHASE, N.Y. —
The Coast Guard Academy women's cross country team kicked off their 2025 season by winning the Purchase College Invitational in dominant fashion.
The team finished with a perfect score of 15 points and took 16 of the race's top 17, including a clean sweep of the first 11. Team captain and 2024 NCAA All-American
Claire Semerod (Centennial, Colo.) was the meet's winner, leading the way from the starting gun to the finish at a 15:14.4 pace. She finished over 30 seconds ahead of runner-up and teammate
Annabel Molner (Bremen, Germany), whose 15:46.8 time was just ahead of third place teammate
Brooke Hunter's (Phillipsburg, N.J.) 15:48 even.
CGA's remaining point-scorers were all done by the 15:57 mark, with
Maddie Spaner (McLean, Va,) finishing fourth;
Mia Mastrogiovanni (Manahawkin, N.J.) in fifth;
Kevyn Fish (Pittsburgh, Pa.) in sixth; and
Hannah Edwards (Highland Village, Tex.) rounding them all out in seventh.
"This was a good showing for our first meet of the season. The ladies executed their race plans, ran in packs, and closed it out the way we wanted," says head coach
Greg Ahnrud. "This was a good way to ease into the season and should reinforce to the team that they're starting out strong shape. But when we step to the line in the coming weeks, we'll need to keep in mind that we're be facing stronger competition."
The race also served as the team's head-to-head with their archnemeses at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in the annual Superintendents' Trophy series. The majority of both schools' teams play each other during their respective season, with a point going to the winner of each match-up. Despite the team win, the team would have won this year's due to Kings Point's DNF at the meet. The score for the 2025-26 season now stands at 1-1.
Bears women's cross country will hit the course again in two weeks at Wesleyan University's Cardinal Invitational.
