ROCHESTER, N.Y.—The William Smith cross country team ran its first 6-kilometer race of the season today, competing in the Yellowjacket Invitational hosted by Rochester. Senior Hope Johnson led the Herons to a 15th place finish out of 23 teams.
 
Johnson was the first William Smith runner across the finish line for the fifth straight race. She stopped the clock at 24:23.7 to place 62nd out of 259 entries. Sophomore Bella Miller joined her in the top 100, finishing 74th in 24:40.9, a personal best.
 
Division I Niagara's Alexa Briggs was the top individual, posting a winning time of 21:57.2
 
TOP HERON FINISHERS

• Hope Johnson, 62nd, 24:23.7
• Bella Miller, 74th, 24:40.9
• Clare Horan, 139th, 26:07.0
• Megan Ingraham, 147th, 26:17.7
• Arawen Leasure, 179th, 27:20.1

 
TEAM STANDINGS

• Geneseo won the team title by 76 points over runner-up Ithaca. Rochester, RIT and Hamilton rounded out the top five.
• William Smith was just six points behind 14th place Penn State Behrend. The Herons were four points ahead of 16th place Brockport.

COACH'S CORNER

"I told the team that our real season started today with running our first 6k of the year, our championship distance. The Herons set the tone this morning for how the rest of the season will go. We have a season-long goal of having our top 7 under 27:00 minutes and we were very close to accomplishing that today. I'm proud of the entire team's performance, but our job is not finished." — Head Coach Tyler Wilkie

 
ON THE HORIZON

• William Smith will be back in action Saturday, Sept. 27, when it competes in the SUNY Poly Invitational.