Lawson Captures Individual Title at Paul Short Run

Saturday, October 5

Bethlehem, Pa.

10:15 a.m.

James Madison University

Paul Short Run

10/5/2024 5:55:00 PM | Cross Country

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – James Madison cross country saw Katherine Lawson lead wire-to-wire to capture an individual title in the Women's College Brown 6K on Saturday afternoon at Lehigh's Paul Short Run.

Lawson crossed the finish line in a personal-best 21:02.5, ahead of runner-up Jordan Malloy of Stonehill in 21:13.4. Her 6,000-meter time places her 10th in program history, surpassing Tessa Mundell's 21:04.0 effort from 2014.

Lawson's performance helped the Dukes place 14th out of 35 teams with 418 points (1-63-114-116-124). New Hampshire tallied 103 points for the team win (6-11-27-28-31), followed by Catawba (156) and Liberty (214).

Junior Sofia Terenziani was the second JMU runner to finish, placing 63rd in 22:49.8. Sophomore Sarah Cestare crossed in 23:20.5 for 114th, followed by freshman Kylie Brooks (116th – 23:20.7) and sophomore Alayna Gifford (124th – 23:24.7). The Dukes had an average time of 22:47.7 with a scoring spread of 2:22.2.

Quoting Head Coach Rebekah Ricksecker
"Paul Short is an awesome meet and we're grateful for the opportunity to run in such a large race and get some practice racing and maneuvering in a crowd. The temperature was hotter than usual, but it was an opportunity to acclimate to racing in the heat. The highlight of today was Katherine's individual win in the brown race. She took the lead early on with an opening 5:31 mile and never gave up the lead the rest of the race. She looked so strong, smooth, and in control from start to finish. We have a young team, so eight of our athletes ran their first-ever 6K. Sarah Cestare had a particularly strong race, and Kylie Brooks was our top freshman of the day, while Grace Tate paced our team in the women's open race competitors with a strong performance in her first 6K as well. Although we were hoping for a higher team finish overall, today's race provided us with some data points to gauge what we need to work on over the next few weeks of the season to be best prepared for our goals in November."

JMU Runners – Women's College Brown 6K
1. Katherine Lawson – 21:02.5 (PR)
63. Sofia Terenziani – 22:49.8
114. Sarah Cestare – 23:20.5
116. Kylie Brooks – 23:20.7
124. Alayna Gifford – 23:24.7
171. Faithe Ketchum – 23:55.4
207. Faith Ford – 24:52.6
253. Kristin Giordano – 25:31.2
271. Elizabeth Rainey – 26:33.2

JMU Runners – Open Women's 6K
217. Grace Tate – 24:29.3
265. Carol-Anne Garrett – 25:06.7
355. Riley Schindel – 26:18.7
364. Caroline Morley – 26:25.0
432. Sierra Puleo – 28:16.7

Up Next
The Dukes will trek to Verona, Wis. for the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals at Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course on Saturday, Oct. 19. The race serves as a precursor to the 2024 NCAA Cross Country National Championships which will take place on the same course on Saturday, Nov. 23.