TROY, N.Y.- Erin vonHousen of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women's cross country team has been named the 2024 Liberty League women's cross country Rookie of the Year, while Head Coach John Lynch and assistants were recognized as the top coaching staff in the league this season.

vonHousen was the top rookie finisher at the conference championship with a fourth place showing and a time of 21:56.1 as she helped the Engineers finish second. The six-time Liberty League Rookie of the Week produced four top 20 finishes in six events this fall. vonHousen was 16th at the NCAA Mideast Regional, good for third among first-year runners with a time of 21:56.4. The Engineers finished second and earned a trip to the 2024 NCAA Division III Championship. She closed out the season 78th at nationals (22:13.0); eighth among first-year runners, and RPI was 12th as a team. vonHousen posted a season-best time of 21:49.1 at Geneseo's Mike Woods Invitational. She was also fourth at Williams' Purple Valley Invitational (25:58.8) and 26th at Lehigh's Paul Short Run (White Race; 22.05.7).

Lynch directed the Engineers to a runner-up finish at the 2024 conference championship with 41 points and all five scoring runners earned All-Liberty League recognition. They were also the runner-up squad at the NCAA Mideast Regional (110 points) with a trio of All-Region honorees. The Engineers earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Championship and RPI made its eighth trip since 2009 to nationals. They finished 12th as a team with a pair of All-America runners leading the way in Jules Bleskoski (4th, 21:09.7) and Olivia Pisacano (30th, 21:27.8). The Engineers were 12th at NCAAs for the first time in program history and it was the team's third-best finish in the event. RPI placed among the top five teams in six of seven events this season. Lynch is assisted by Karina Bolton, Ben Fazio, Allison Thayer, Hannah Tighe, and Austin Turner. 

Three Engineers were honored as first team All-Liberty performers, with Julianne Bleskoski, Olivia Pisacano, and vonHousen each receiving the honor based on final results from the 2024 Liberty League Championship. Claudia Wolf was also recognized as second team All-Liberty League, and Olivia Reid was named the Honorable Mention team.