The women’s cross country team won its third scored invitational of the season out of the four races it has competed in, beating out 39 other teams to win the title in the Brown Race of the Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh University on Oct. 4

This impressive victory comes after a difficult race at the University of Virginia on Sep. 26, in which the Bison starters competed, leaving them out of the Paul Short Invitational.

Leading the way for the Bison was Christine Bendzinski ’18, as she finished in eighth place out of 357 runners in 21:49, just 1:07 behind the top finisher. Finishing closely behind Bendzinski were key contributors from last season, Catherine Scott ’17 in 15th place and Kylie Pearse ’15 in 17th place.  

The race was a good check-in to see how the team can compete at the upcoming Patriot League Championship.

“Lehigh is where our championships are being held this year, so Paul Short was a chance to see the league course,” Pearse said. “I thought Saturday was a huge confidence boost for the entire team. We showed that we have what it takes to put up a solid fight for the team cup on Nov. 1.”

Coming up next for the Orange and Blue is a day of multiple meets on Oct. 18, as some runners will compete at the Gettysburg Invitational and others will make the trip to the Princeton Invitational in the team’s last scheduled races before the Patriot League Championships.