CARLISLE, Pa. – The Franklin & Marshall women's cross country team once again battled rivals Gettysburg and Dickinson for top honors at the Dickinson Long-Short Invitational on Saturday. With each of its runners competing in the 4,000 meter "short" race, F&M tied Gettysburg for the top spot in the team standings, but officially recorded a second place finish as the Bullets had the higher finishing second and third runners. With the long and short races combining to crown the overall team champion, the Diplomats finished with 16 team points as only three from each squad placed at each distance.

First-year Maren Blanks was the top attached runner in the field as she crossed the line in a time of 14:50.1. Blanks was second overall, coming within four seconds of the unattached runner who graduated last season. She was joined in the top 10 by teammates Courtney Carlson (15:27.5) and Katie Scott (15:37.4) as the field consisted of 63 total runners.

Outside of the three scoring finishers, four more Diplomats found themselves among the top 20 placers. Emily Jones was 12th with a time of 15:50.2, while Hana Hyman also got in under the 16-minute mark at 15:58.4. Jordyn Collie (16:11.8) and Georgia Hodgson (16:22.2) came to the finish line in succession to garner respective 18th and 19th-place showings.

A total of 10 Diplomats took to the 4,000 meter course, with Clara Pallordet (16:49.4), Teagan Altman (17:32.8), and Layli Katirai (18:07.6) gaining valuable racing experience early in the season.

Women's cross country will now have three weeks of training as the team prepares for the prestigious Paul Short Run held at Lehigh University on Friday, October 2. With a couple more weeks of training, that race will mark the team's first 6,000 meter competition of the 2026 season.