BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Julianne Bleskoski led the way for the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women's cross country team this morning, taking first place overall in the Women's White 6K race at the prestigious Paul Short Run hosted by Lehigh University. Bleskoski's dominant individual performance helped propel the Engineers to a 14th-place team finish among 45 schools in a field of over 400 runners.

Bleskoski surged to the front early and never looked back, crossing the line in 20:20.8 to claim the individual title by more than 27 seconds. Her final time listed 22nd best amongst all female collegiate runners, which included Division I, II, and III competitors.

Behind Bleskoski, Erin Vonhousen placed 67th with a time of 22:28.3, followed by Claudia Wolf (91st, 22:43.7), Gianna Coryea (102nd, 22:49.4) and Tessa Bossom (122nd, 22:55.8) to round out the RPI top-five. Charlotte Koutalidis and Francesca Mavricos also posted strong finishes in the top 165, clocking 23:12.4 and 23:14.6, respectively.

In the Women's Open 6K race, RPI had several more runners gain valuable experience and log solid efforts. Theresa O'Connor led the group with a time of 24:33.5, just ahead of Kaitlyn Fleming (24:35.3). Josephine Howard (25:16.7), Niamh Heraghty (25:35.2), Chloe Nebel (25:44.3), Grace Turner (25:44.4) and Sara Mikula (25:44.5) all finished in a tightly grouped pack as well.

The Engineers are next set to run on Saturday, October 18, in the final tune up before the Liberty League Championships.