Blanca Fernandez Takes First in a Huge Field at the 42nd Annual Paul Short Run

Friday, October 2

Bethlehem, Pa. (Lehigh University)

11:00 a.m.

Temple University

Paul Short Invitational

Photo by: Joseph V. Labolito/Temple University

Blanca Fernandez Takes First in a Huge Field at the 42nd Annual Paul Short Run

10.2.15 | Women's Cross Country

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - It was a field more than four times the size of the Owls' previous two races, but that proved to be no obstacle for Temple women's cross country's Blanca Fernandez. Running a time of 20:27 for the 6K race, Fernandez took first place among 312 competitors at the 42nd annual Paul Short Run on Friday morning.

The Owls competed in the College Women's Gold race for the first time after racing in a lower division in many past seasons. They placed 29th as a team, nearly matching their best finish from the less competitive Brown race.

"This was a nationally-competitive field," said coach James Snyder. "Some of these runners have mixed it up at the NCAA level before. For Blanca to win over them, this kind of quality field, it was the biggest race of her career so far. She was composed throughout, closed it up on last straightaway and made a move. Today is a good indicator of where we see her long term. She's one of the best in the country and she's put herself in a good position to extend her season into the postseason."

For Fernandez, it was her third win in as many races this season, and her first 6K race for Temple. She won the 4K Big 5 Invitational on Sept. 11, and followed it up with a win in the three-mile Main Line Invite on Sept. 18.

Sophomore Katie Pinson also placed in the top 100 for Temple, taking 77th in a personal-best time of 21:50.

"Katie beat her personal best by 25 seconds," said Snyder. "The conditions were sloppy, not ideal, and for her to race that well among a great field and break the 22-minute barrier for the first time is a great jump as a sophomore. I was happy with Megan Schneider as well, who broke her personal best by 45 seconds and ran under 24 minutes for the first time.

"We raced a lot of freshmen today. That's who we are and what we have, but for us to be as good as we're going to be, some of them will need to step up and move into that group with Katie. It's going to take a full group effort to close that gap."

Some Temple runners will be back in action next Saturday, Oct. 10 at the Jack St. Clair Memorial Invite in Philadelphia. The full team will return to action Oct. 17 at the Princeton Invitational.

Temple Results - College Women's Gold 6K Race
1. Blanca Fernandez, 20:27
77. Katie Pinson, 21:50
211. Maddie Bixler, 23:14
222. Ashton Dunkley, 23:39
223. Katie Leisher, 23:42
226. Megan Schneider, 23:50
231. Brigit Andersson, 24:11

Complete Results