With just a week to go until the Patriot League Championships at Lehigh University, the women’s cross country team won its fourth invitational of the season at Gettysburg College. Simultaneously, the team sent 10 runners to the top-notch Princeton Invitational, where they finished fifth out of 35 high-level teams.

At the Gettysburg Invitational, the Bison’s victory was fueled by a first-place finish from Kylie Pearse ’15 (22:43) as she won the 6k race with a significant lead of 11 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher. The Bison then followed close behind to take the next two spots in the top four as Becky Snelson ’15 (22:58) and Meghan Carroll ’16 (23:10) finished third and fourth, respectively. Rounding out the top five finishes for the Bison were Emma Cousins ’18 (23:32) and Elizabeth Sheprow ’17 (23:32) in 13th and 14th place, finishing less than a second apart.

The impressive fifth-place finish by the Orange and Blue at the Princeton Invitational was sparked by Katie Jessee ’15 and her 30th place finish in 22:21. Finishing closely behind her was Christine Bendzinski ’18 in 32nd place (22:27) and Sarah Chandler ’17 in 34th place (22:28) . Catherine Scott ’17 (22:39) and Montana DiPietrantonio ’15 (22:54) rounded out the top five in 53rd and 61st place.

The next competition for the Bison is the Patriot League Championships on Nov. 1 at Lehigh University.