MANCHESTER, Conn. – The No. 21 Connecticut College women's cross country team opened the 2024 season with a victory at the Trinity Invitational on Saturday morning at Wickham Park.

The Camels had seven runners finish in the top-21 and cruised to the win with 45 points. No. 28 Coast Guard, the only other ranked team in the field, finished second with a score of 68 points.

Abby Fernald (Avon, Conn.) was one of three runners who led the pack and finished runner-up in a time of 19:16.30. Clark University's Ruby Krasnow won the race with a time of 19:13.90, and Coast Guard's Paige Phillips took third in 19:18.30.

Both the Camels and Bears put two runners in the top-5— CGA's Claire Semerod took fourth in 19:27.50 while Grace McDonough (Londonderry, N.H.) crossed the line in fifth in 19:45.70—and the battle between the New London neighbors was on. However, Conn's depth was simply too much, as its next four runners placed ahead of CGA's third finisher. The spread between Conn's top-five runners was only 56 seconds, the lowest gap among the 11 teams in the field.

Kiera Tallas (Fountain Valley, Calif.), Alsacia Timmerman (Morrisville, Vt.) and Addie Fuller (Eliot, Maine) rounded out the scoring for the Camels. Tallas took 11th (20:02.0) while Timmerman and Fuller finished 13th (20:06.0) and 14th (20:12.5), respectively. April Schilling (Amherst, Mass.) placed 15th (20:12.6) while Liz Freeman (Maynard, Mass.) took 21st (20:45.2) to round out Conn's top-7.

Conn will next compete at the UMass Dartmouth Invitational on Saturday, September 21 at 10:30 a.m.