The Bison Women’s Cross Country team ran in the coveted Patriot League Championships this past Saturday, Nov. 2. They secured fourth place for the second year in a row, behind top-three finishers Army, Boston University and Navy.
“We were hoping for top three and fell a little bit short of our goal,” Head Coach Keven Donner said. “We had beaten Navy twice this year, but both were close battles. They just had a better performance on Saturday.”
Caryn Rippey ’26 and Kailey Granger ’27 took All-Patriot League honors by placing in the top 14 finishers. Rippey finished the highest of the Bison at 10th with a time of 21:09.6, passing five other runners to take her place.
“Caryn has been a consistent number one runner for us all year.” Coach Donner shared. “She’s never made all-league, so this was a big break for her, and she’s coming back next season.”
Granger, while starting her first mile in 34th, pushed the rest of the race to finish at 21:11.2, clinching 12th place. “That was a great comeback race for Kailey because of her struggles at ICAC a few weeks ago. She came back and essentially spent her race passing others up,” Coach Donner said.
Lauren Trapani ’25 was the third highest Bison finisher, placing 20th with 21:31.3. First-year Shaelan McNally was the next Bison, and the second highest placing first-year at the meet coming in 22nd (21:34.9). Sarah Policano ’25 also had a strong race, finishing 24th with a time of 21:37.9. All three of these Bison started their first mile in the latter of the pack, but pushed to finish strong in the top 30.
“Going into this past weekend, we were ranked eighth, Navy 11th and [we] should stay in the top 10 in our region,” Coach Donner shared. “Our goal for regionals is always to finish higher than our ranking.”
The next stop for the Orange and Blue is the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regionals on Friday, Nov. 15. They will run at Penn State, a course the team has already competed in this season.
“The top two teams from each regional get an automatic bid, but four individuals can qualify if their team does not; we have some runners who might be able to take one of those bids,” Coach Donner said.
