LANCASTER, Pa. – The Franklin & Marshall women's cross country team saw both team and individual success in 2025 and will look to take that to the next level this fall. As a team, the Diplomats' fifth-place finish at last year's conference championship was the team's best finish since the 2019 season. Individually, both Tara Silverman and Katie Scott earned all-conference and all-region honors and have a chance to make their presence felt on the national stage this fall.
Athletes to Watch
Silverman and Scott had two of the strongest individual seasons in recent history for the Diplomats as they earned the first all-conference honors of their career. Silverman was 12th at the conference championship and 21st at the regional championship after nearly breaking the 22-minute mark during the final race of last season. Scott placed 11th and 24th at those two respective events during the 2025 season. She owns a personal best time of 22:09.1 at the 6,000 meter distance heading into her senior campaign.
With a lot of experience returning to this year's team, a number of seniors should be very competitive for the team's top scoring positions. Jordyn Collie, Hana Hyman, and Georgia Hodgson each have postseason experience at both the conference and regional level. All three have broken through the 25-minute barrier in their career, with Collie posting a personal best time of 23:21.3 at the 2024 regional championship. Junior Emily Jones and sophomore Sophia Bloom were both running their best at the end of last season as each recorded personal best times during their final races of the year.
Five first-years will bring their talents to the team as they look to bolster the team's depth and move into the top five scoring positions. The five newcomers hail from Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania.
In the Polls
Franklin & Marshall was selected to replicate last year's fifth-place finish in a vote of the conference's head coaches. The Diplomats will have a chance to prove they belong in the regional rankings early in the season as Little Three foes Gettysburg and Dickinson own the third and fourth spot in the Mid-Atlantic Rankings. That comes in addition to the Centennial Conference having the top-ranked team in both the Mid-Atlantic (Johns Hopkins) and Mideast (Swarthmore) regions.
The Road Ahead
The Diplomats open the season by hosting the Little Three Meet on Tuesday, September 1. F&M treks to Dickinson just 10 days later for the Long-Short Invitational. Other traditional races on the schedule feature the Paul Short Run and Gettysburg's Aubrey Shenk Invitational. Haverford will serve as the host of the 2026 Centennial Conference Championship on Saturday, October 31. Lock Haven will be the site of the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship in Mid-November when bids to the NCAA National Championship are on the line.
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