YORK, Pa.--Ten teams descended on John Rudy Park, just outside York, Pa., on a beautiful fall morning to contest the York College Invitational.

The Blazer effort was led by senior captain Jessica Stanley, who powered her way from 16th place at the mile to a fifth place finish. Joanna LaBoue continued her remarkable first year of competitive running by snagging 10th place. The two top 10 finishes earned individual awards and led the Hood women to third place out of 10 complete teams.

“Jessica just runs a race the way I like to see a race run. She has great patience, doesn’t panic, and just rolls through people the last half of the race,” said head Coach Brent Ayer. “Joanna has never run competitively before but she is completely unafraid of the distance, and is learning more each race.”

Completing the team scoring for Hood College were Maria Moss (20th), Erica Burgess (25th), and Sam Smith (32nd). Also competing in her first 5K race was Kristina Coggins (56th). “Erica ran her first college race and also demonstrated great patience, rolling up 10 competing runners over the last two miles. Kristina is making nice progress.

“We are winning some individual awards and I look for us to get better as the season moves along,” concluded Ayer.