BETHLEHEM, PA – Competing in the 46-team, Division I-heavy Gold Race at the 48^th annual Paul Short Run at Lehigh University on Friday morning, the fourth-ranked Johns Hopkins women's cross country team placed 34th overall with 903 points.  Johns Hopkins was the only Division III team competing in the Gold Race.
 
Graduate student Alex Ross once again led the way for Johns Hopkins as she crossed the line in 20:33 to place 66^th among scoring runners and 67^th overall.  Ross was especially strong as the race wore on; after cruising through the first mile in 86^th place, she gradually worked her way forward and jumped 20 spots to earn her 66^th-place showing.
 
Senior Sara Stephenson also posted a top-90 finish in the field of more than 400 as she was 88^th among scoring runners (89^th overall) and clocked in at 20:44.6.  Stephenson was clutch down the stretch with a great finishing kick as she jumped 23 spots after the two-mile mark.
 
Katharine Priu was the third Blue Jay to finish as she clocked in at 21:53.3 and placed 235^th.  The third-through-sixth runners for the Blue Jays all finished within 41 seconds of each other as Priu was followed closely by Paloma Hancock (21:57.1), Cooper Brotherton (22:13.2) and Mackenzie Setton (22:34.4).
 
North Carolina won the team title with 63 points with Georgetown (67 points), Providence (176), Utah State (191) and Utah Valley (234) rounding out the top five.
 
Johns Hopkins will return to action on October 15 when the Blue Jays split their squad and compete at both Virginia's Panorama Farms Invitational and the Rowan Border Battle.
 

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