GETTYSBURG, PA – The Alfred University women's cross country team finished 36^th out of the 46 teams racing in the Aubrey Shenk Invitational hosted by Gettysburg College on Saturday morning.

The Saxons were paced by Vladyslava Makarenko (Berdychiv, Ukraine/Lyceum 23) who finished 262^nd overall, scoring 179 points. She clocked a 6k time of 25:34.6. The second Saxon to cross the finish line was Jovie Riley (Bakersfield, CA/Stockdale) who finished with a time of 25:53.3 and scoring 192 points. Rounding out the top three finishers for AU was Sydney Ribble (Addison, NY/Addison) scoring 193 team points as she was just behind Riley with a time of 25:55.9.

"Our women showed up today," Head Coach Matt Phillips '10 said. "They improved their total team time by 54 seconds and had an average time of 10 seconds faster than 2025. With their Top-5 spread of just under three minutes, we are in a good spot going into E8s in a few weeks."

Morgan Brinkmann (Manchester, MO/Parkway South) was the next Saxon runner to cross the finish line, clocking in a time of 27:15.0. Both Vivian Crane (Branchport, NY/Avoca) and Rain Newton (Phelps, NY/Midlakes) finished under 30 minutes with times of 28:25.7 and 29:51.8, respectively.

"We're very excited by the progression both teams have shown over the last two months," Assistant Head Coach Gabriel Trimbur said. "Today's performances are a direct result of how intentional this group has been with their training and approach to racing. There's a lot to celebrate and still plenty of work to be done as we look to the rest of the season!"

Saturday's race was the final tune-up before the Saxons turn their sights towards the Empire 8 Championships, hosted by SUNY Poly on Saturday, October 31 at 11:00am.