TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The No. 22 Connecticut College women's cross country team finished fifth out of 44 teams at the 2024 NCAA Division III Pre-National Invitational on Friday night at the LaVern Gibson Cross Country Course.

In a deep field that featured eight nationally-ranked teams and 14 other regionally-ranked opponents, the Camels once again turned in a great team performance. Conn finished the night with 236 points, beating out No. 18 Central, No. 19 George Fox and No. 29 UC Santa Cruz. No. 4 MIT took top team honors with 56 points while No. 2 Chicago finished as runner-up with 143.

Wilmington's Faith Duncan captured medalist honors with a time of 21:02.79 over the 6K course. Grace McDonough (Londonderry, N.H.) paced the Camels for the first time this season, crossing the finish in 13th place with a career-best time of 21:54.25.

Abby Fernald (Avon, Conn.) was Conn's next finisher, coming home in 22:17.42 to place 30th. Abby Williams (Waterville, Maine) finished 53rd overall in 22:38.08 while Alsacia Timmerman (Morrisville, Vt.) was close behind in 71st at 22:53.64.

Addie Fuller (Eliot, Maine) rounded out the scoring for the Camels, finishing 90th with a career-best time of 23:09.09. Kiera Tallas (Fountain Valley, Calif.) and April Schilling (Amherst, Mass.) also posted career-best times and finished 96th (23:15.92) and 119th (23:34.13), respectively, to fill out Conn's top-7. 

Hosted by Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, the Pre-National Invitational serves as a preview of the course that will host the 2024 NCAA Division III National Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships on November 23. As such, the field for the event is one of the deepest of the season.

Conn will next compete at the James Earley Invitational on Saturday, October 12 at 10:30 a.m.