LANCASTER, Pa. – For the second week in a row, the Centennial Conference Women's Cross Country Runner of the Week is a Diplomat as Maren Blanks earned this accolade following her performance at the Dickinson Long-Short Invitational.

Blanks was the top collegiate finisher (placing second overall) on the 4,000 meter course with a time of 14:50.1. Blanks led the Diplomats to a second-place team finish. She has now finished second during each of the first two races of her career, with teammate Tara Silverman (last week's athlete of the week) being the only collegiate runner to finish ahead of her this season.

Women's cross country now has 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.