BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Marist College women's team posted its strongest showing in school history at the Paul Short Run on Friday on a wet and muddy day at Lehigh University's Goodman Campus. The Red Foxes placed 21st out of 40 teams in the Gold Division, their best-ever finish in this division. The previous best for Marist was in 2009, when the Red Foxes placed 22nd.

Sophomore Michelle Gaye led the way, covering the slick 6,000-meter course in 21:37. The time was 27 seconds faster than her 2011 showing at Paul Short, and it was just seven seconds off Brittany Burns' 6km school record at Paul Short, set in 2009. Freshman Kristen Traub placed 114th overall in 22:12 in her first race at the 6km distance. Sophomore Erin Thompson improved by 35 seconds over her 2011 showing with a 144th place time of 22:30.

Senior captain Katie Messina placed 154th overall 22:36, an improvement of 39 seconds over her 2011 race at Paul Short. Freshman Christine Coughlin rounded out the scoring for Marist, covering her first 6km race in 22:56.

Cornell University, ranked fourth in the Northeast Region and 31st nationally, won the meet with 55 points.

The Red Foxes return to action on Saturday, October 13, at the Princeton Invitational in Princeton, N.J.

Women's team results, Gold Race

1-Cornell 55, 2-William and Mary 102, 3-Georgetown 106, 4-Yale 147, 5-Dartmouth 149, 6-Providence 167, 7-Villanova 184, 8-Brown 196, 9-New Hampshire 331, 10-Navy 332, 11-Stony Brook 343, 12-Vermont 383, 13-Harvard 414, 14-Duquesne 449, 15-Johns Hopkins 450, 16-Penn 490, 17-Shippensburg 556, 18-Quinnipiac 593, 19-Delaware 615, 20-Tennessee 617, 21-Marist 624, 22-Rice 633, 23-Army 654, 24-St. Lawrence 692, 25-Maryland 700, 26-Boston University 740, 27-St. Joseph's 751, 28-Stonehill 769, 29-Buffalo 770, 30-Lehigh 840, 31-Loyola 861, 32-VMI 871, 33-Colgate 884, 34-UMass 891, 35-Rider 934, 36-Binghamton 977, 37-Holy Cross 980, 38-Miami 1097, 39-USC Upstate 1186, 40-VCU 1329

Women's individual results, Gold Race (6,000 meters)

60. Michelle Gaye 21:37

114. Kristen Traub 22:12

144. Erin Thompson 22:30

154. Katie Messina 22:36

197. Christine Coughlin 22:56

214. Rebecca Denise 23:08

237. Nicki Nesi 23:20

271. Erin O'Reilly 23:45

301. Brianna Freestone 24:09

311. Rachel Bremer 24:19

Women's Individual results, Open Race (6,000 meters)

119. Jackie Gamboli 24:23

146. Kelley Gould 24:49

153. Tara Nuccitelli 24:56

175. Annie Gould 25:17

192. Rachel Lichtenwalner 25:42

238. Catherine Ferreri 26:55

239. Lizzy Peper 26:59