WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – William & Mary women's cross country hits the road to compete in the 47th annual Lehigh Paul Short Run presented by Asics on Friday.
The Event
The Paul Short Run, which is in its 47th year, is in honor of the late Paul Short who was Lehigh's Business Manager of Athletics and a cross country enthusiast. The run started in 1969 with seven men's teams and added the women's events in 1981. In total this year, 114 men's teams and 122 women's teams will compete, including 55 Division I men's programs and 60 D1 programs on the women's side.
W&M will compete in the 41-team College Gold race, which also includes 38 D1 teams. The race starts at 11:45 a.m. Of the 38 Division I teams in the Gold race, 21 are ranked in the top 15 of their respective regions. The field also includes four nationally-ranked teams in No. 12 Northern Arizona, No. 14 Georgetown and No. 29 Princeton. The teams competing in the Gold Race along with the Tribe are American, Army West Point (#14 Northeast Region), Binghamton (#10 Northeast Region), Boston University (#15 Northeast Region), Bowling Green (#14 Great Lakes Region), Bucknell, Cornell, Duquesne (#14 Mid-Atlantic Region), East Carolina, George Mason (#15 Southeast Region), George Washington (#7 Mid-Atlantic Region), Georgetown (#1 Mid-Atlantic Region), Hartford, James Madison, La Salle (#8 Mid-Atlantic Region), Lafayette, Lehigh, Marist, Maryland (#13 Mid-Atlantic Region), Monmouth (#10 Mid-Atlantic Region), Navy (#9 Mid-Atlantic Region), Northern Arizona (#2 Mountain Region), Penn State (#5 Mid-Atlantic Region), Quinnipiac, Rice (#5 South Central Region), Richmond (#14 Southeast Region), Rutgers (#12 Mid-Atlantic Region), Siena, Stony Brook, Temple (#11 Mid-Atlantic Region), UMBC, Utah State (#7 Mountain Region), Vermont, Villanova (#4 Mid-Atlantic Region) and Yale (#6 Northeast Region).
News and Notes
- The Tribe is coming off a fifth-place finish in the nine-team Virginia Invitational on Sept. 17.
- Sophomore
Kyra Holland led the Tribe at UVA, running the 6K course in 18 minutes flat to place ninth overall. As a result of her strong performance, she was selected as the W&M Student-Athlete of the Week presented by the Virginia Lottery via a social media vote of the Tribe fanbase.
- Freshman
Lucy Young, who finished third at the season-opening W&M Invite, was second for the Tribe at UVA Invite, finishing 30th overall.
- The Green and Gold opened the season by winning the William & Mary Invitational on Sept. 10. W&M posted a perfect score of 15 in outdistancing Hampton. The Tribe placed 10 runners among the top 11 at the event.
- Holland claimed the top spot at the William & Mary Invitational, finishing 24 seconds ahead of the field. Tribe freshmen finished second, third and fourth at the W&M Invite.
Arianna DeBoer was the runner-up at 19:25.69 followed by Young in third (19:40.94) and
Annika Griggs (19:48.43).
- At last spring's CAA Championship, Holland tied the mark for the highest finish for a Tribe freshman at the conference championship meet, placing third. She earned All-CAA honors for her efforts.
- During the spring, the Tribe finished fourth at the CAA Championships. W&M owns 23 CAA titles all-time with the last coming in 2018.
