BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Towson University women's cross country team fought hard at the Paul Short Run on Friday afternoon. The Tigers placed 28^th out of 46 teams after running an average time of 23:12.4, with many of the athletes earning personal bests.

"We took a big step forward today," assistant coach Evan Freeman stated. "We had some adversity going in, but the way the ladies handled it was fantastic and they were able to put forth their best race of the season."

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps won the event after earning 82 points and running an average time of 21:29.3. Four of their athletes finished in the top-30. Annika Urban from Emory was the top finisher individually, tracking the Women's College Brown 6k course in 20:22.9.

Graduate student Beighley Ayers led for the Black and Gold, placing 26^th after running a time of 21:50.7. This was an improvement by over a minute from Ayers' performance at Navy Invitational, and is the first time she has ever broke 22:00.

"Beighley executed a great race up front," Freeman added. "That energy was carried through each runner down the line."

Aubrey Schaffer and Morgan Loewe earned personal bests as well, clocking a 22:54.9 and 23:18.5 respectively.

Alison Betler (23:11.4) and Alexis Mogensen (24:46.1) competed for the Tigers as well. Freshman Jenna Zentz rounded out the team, finishing with a time of 26:24.0.

The Tigers will be competing in their last event before CAA's on October 15^th at the Delaware Invite, hosted by Delaware.