Runners, set, and go!
At the annual Princeton Fall Classic held on Oct. 17, both the men’s and women’s cross country teams saw exceptional performances, from personal bests to successful team efforts. Just one week later, women’s cross country concluded its regular season at the Haverford Invitational. The Princeton Classic consisted of two events: the women’s 6-kilometer and men’s 8-kilometer races. Meanwhile, the Haverford Invitational saw three Quakers compete in the women’s 5-kilometer race.
At Princeton, the women’s team had standout results, placing third overall in the competition with a total of 131 points. Senior Lily Murphy led the team with a 6K time of 20:07.9, placing fifth overall. This was similar to her strong 10th place finish at the Paul Short Run just two weeks prior.
“I was feeling a bit sick headed into Princeton so it definitely felt tougher on my body than previous races, but I think being able to push through when you’re not feeling 100% fresh is an important skill headed into the championship season, as we need to be prepared to give it our all no matter the conditions,” Murphy wrote in a statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian.
Murphy’s teammates also had a strong showing. Following behind, senior Anna Weirich finished with her personal-best time of 20:30.3, placing her 18th overall in the race. Junior Sarah Fischer, closely behind, also completed the race with a personal-best time of 20:41.4 and placed 23th overall. Junior Gabrielle Jones and sophomore Quin Stovall also recorded huge personal-best times, with Jones’s 20:50.3 and Stovall’s 21:12.2, placing them at 30th and 55th respectively.
“Our team has taken huge steps since the beginning of the season, and as a whole we have improved drastically on executing race plans, whether that be to go out conservatively and push in the second half, or to really focus on running in groups,” Murphy wrote about the team’s preparation for the race.
Three Quakers finished in the top 25, giving them an overall third place ranking among the competing teams.
“It has been awesome to watch the improvements in placements and standings as well as times across the team as we’ve gotten better at executing the race plans … [The team] focused on continuing to be intentional with our progression between then and now, rather than making drastic changes to our training,” Murphy wrote. “[The team learned] to race together and run in packs, which [they] were able to practice in workouts and then apply at Princeton.”
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For the men’s team, senior Sahil Dodda led the Quakers at Princeton, finishing with a 8-kilometer time of 24:07.0. Closely behind Dodda, junior Kofi Fordjour finished with a personal-best time of 24:12.0. Sophomore Shane Murphy followed with another personal-best time of 24:14.8, while senior Liam Going and senior Nick Carpenter ended with times of 24:28.7 and 24:36.1, respectively.
“The men's team has been building week over week with training and practices and were able to show some of that work at Princeton this past weekend. We had a similar pack mentality and wanted to run together if possible,” Dodda wrote.
With all times combined, the Penn men’s team placed 15th overall in the race.
“We had our top returner from last year, Nick Carpenter, come back after he had been injured and we're excited to see where he stacks up against the rest of the ivy league after a couple more weeks of training,” Dodda wrote. “With a week to go, we're looking forward to competing against some of the other top teams in the League and know that it'll be hard but the course favors our crew of runners.”
One week after the Princeton Invitational, the women’s team concluded their regular season at the Haverford Invitational. Though only three Quakers would compete in the women’s 5-kilometer race, all three notched personal-best times. Freshman Margaret McCabe led the Quakers with a fourth-place 18:12.1 time, while senior Keira Duffy’s 18:21.1 time was good for fifth. Junior Lindsay Yakaboski finished 11th with a time of 19:52.5.
The Quakers travel to Bronx, N.Y. to compete at the 2025 Ivy League Heptagonal Cross Country Championships on Oct. 31.
