The University of Rhode Island women’s cross country team placed 30th out of 37 teams at the Paul Short Run on Friday, marking its third competitive appearance of the season.
The Rams traveled to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and raced against 315 runners on Lehigh University’s campus course on an unseasonably near 90-degree day.
“It was really hot and humid,” Rhode Island head coach Laurie Feit-Melnick said. “Ours was the fourth race. It was delayed because there were people down on the course. They canceled every single race after our race because of the medical emergencies and the heat. It was crazy.”
Despite the heat, the Rams runners successfully raced, braving the elements to complete the 6,000-meter course.
“I’m thankful we did not have to go to the [emergency room],” Feit-Melnick said. “I know some coaches had their athletes at the ER. I’m really glad everybody was okay.”
Fifth-year Lily Saul was the highest-finishing Ram of the afternoon, claiming 40th place with a time of 21 minutes, 34.0 seconds for the team’s fifth-best time on the Lehigh course.
“It was just an okay race for her,” Feit-Melnick said. “I think the heat definitely affected her, and she didn’t get out as quickly as she needed to. She wasn’t too happy about it, but that’s okay. We’ve got more to come. She is doing an amazing job leading this team.”
Behind Saul came second-year Keaney Bayha, who took 186th place in 22:56.4. Fifth-year Zoe Catrambone placed 201st with a time of 23:00.4.
“Keaney is a sophomore, and she opened up,” Feit-Melnick said. “This was her first race, so where she placed as my second runner was a huge accomplishment.”
Fourth-year Hailey LaRosa and second-year Jordan Hadfield rounded out the Rams’ top five competitors. LaRosa finished 218th in 23:11.2; Hadfield hit the mark at 23:28.8 to take 237th place
“That was Jordan’s first race,” Feit-Melnick said. “For their first race and they’re only sophomores, they were solid.”
The trio of third-years Alison Pankowicz, Kelsey Wolff and Gwen McCloughan filled out the Rams’ eight competitors. Pankowicz completed the course in 24:07.2, Wolff finished in 24:20.4 and McCloughan hit the mark at 24:33.2.
“They were tight,” Feit-Melnick said. “In these big races, you can see that in five seconds there can be 15 people. We need to continue to keep packing it in, and in a smaller field like a championship, we have to be even tighter.”
Rhode Island will return to competition next weekend at the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championship in Bethpage, New York.
“For the next race, they all need to get out harder,” Feit-Melnick said. “That’s what we’re working on, and it’s not necessarily a time; it’s getting out and believing. That pack needs to get out, stay tight together, work the middle part of the race and not fall asleep.”
Rhode Island will use its time off to continue training, get the team fully healthy and fine-tune its strategy ahead of the A10 Championship.
“We’ll do two workouts this week, and we’ll do one the week of the race,” Feit-Melnick said. “Training really well for two weeks and getting everybody healthy is key. We’ve had quite a few colds.”
The upcoming meet will be Rhode Island’s first time racing at Bethpage State Park.
“Going up to a course that we haven’t been to, it’ll be exciting,” Feit-Melnick said. “After that, we go to Virginia for the A10 Championship.”
The Atlantic 10 Championship will be held on Oct. 31 at Pole Green Park in Mechanicsville, Virginia.
