The University of Rhode Island women’s cross country team placed 10th out of 33 teams at the UMass Dartmouth Invitational on Saturday, marking its second competitive appearance of the season.
The Rams traveled to North Dartmouth, Massachusetts, and raced against 242 competitors on UMass Dartmouth’s campus course.
The 6,000-meter race followed Rhode Island’s fourth-place finish out of five teams at the Shawn M. Nassaney Invitational.
“We’ve made some improvements,” Rhode Island head coach Laurie Feit-Melnick said. “We were trying to get back a few women who came off the summer with some injuries. In cross country, you need as much depth as possible.”
Fifth-year Lily Saul was the highest-finishing Ram of the afternoon, claiming eighth place with a time of 21 minutes, 40.44 seconds.
Saul came off a first-place finish at the Nassaney Invitational on Sept. 12, her first competition since the indoor track season, where she was named the Atlantic 10 Conference’s Track & Field Championship Track Performer of the Meet.
“She’s in very good shape,” Feit-Melnick said. “After the Bryant meet, she got the A10 Performer of the Week award. That’s a special honor, and she ran solid this past weekend.”
URI had multiple close finishes in the race. Behind Saul came fifth-year Zoe Catrambone, who took 32nd place in 22:35.89. Fourth-year Hailey LaRosa placed 42nd in 22:42.82.
Third-year Alison Pankowicz took 74th place with a time of 23:29.44, and fifth-year Isabelle Mondo finished a spot behind her in 23:30.08.
The trio of third-year Kelsey Wolff, second-year Greta Dahl and first-year Ada Jordan rounded out the Rams’ eight competitors. Wolff finished in 23:40.66, Dahl hit the mark at 24:33.08 and first-year Ada Jordan crossed the finish line in 24:53.97.
“In cross country it’s so important that we pack run,” Feit-Melnick said. “You want your scoring as tight as possible.”
Rhode Island will return to competition Saturday at the Paul Short Invitational in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
“We hope that everyone can race,” Feit-Melnick said. “Hoping that [second-year] Keaney Bayha and [third-year] Jordan Hadfield will return. At the end of the summer, they were injured. This is a very competitive race; it will be interesting to see how we do against the [Atlantic 10] teams.”
The meet provides the Rams an opportunity to test their running on a course that is similar to what they will face at the Atlantic 10 Championship on Oct. 31, according to Feit-Melnick.
“It’s a wonderful course,” Feit-Melnick said. “It’s a nice grass course, so that’s good preparation. The A10 course is on grass. It’s all about experience; we have older athletes and younger athletes. It’s about running as a pack and not being afraid to get established.”
Despite being only in the second week of the season. Feit-Melnick is focused on the conference Championship, which the team finished 10th of 14 teams in 2025.
“We’re looking forward to these six weeks till the conference championship,” Feit-Melnick said. “We’re looking to finish in the top five.”
Last year, Rhode Island placed 10th out of 39 schools at Saturday’s Paul Short Invitational with 334 points. Saul finished 10th with a final time of 21:15.0.
