PURCHASE, N.Y. - The Sarah Lawrence women's cross country team took home first place at the Purchase Invitational on Saturday, defeating an eight-team field that contained three Skyline opponents. The men's team finished in fourth place, finishing as the second Skyline team in the field behind the hosting Panthers.

On the women's side, a quartet of top-ten finishes helped propel the team to victory, with Ali Xhafa, Sadie de Beer, Ella Beesley and Caitlin McCabe finishing in sixth-through-ninth place, with all four runners completing the 5k course in under 26 minutes. Al Sinclair would also register a 16th-place finish for SLC in just over 26 minutes and Haley Balka's 26th-place finish would help the Gryphons in their winning effort. Mauli Chopra and Genevieve Clark both completed the course in under 33 minutes, earning the 31st and 32nd best times on the day. Rosalyn Tiblier and Kate Hansberry would round out the SLC runners on the day, finishing 55th and 57th and joining their teammates at the finish line to celebrate their victory.

In the men's race, Gavin Wright and Thomas Matonti would be the first two Gryphons to cross the finish line, finishing in 13th and 14th place and completing the 8k course in under 35 minutes. SLC's Aiden Morel would be the next to cross the line, less than a minute behind Matonti and good enough to take home a 17th-place finish. Noah Carey would be the next Gryphon to complete the course, doing so in just over 37 minutes and giving SLC a fourth top-25 finish in the race. Nat Skoczenski and Ansel Stover-Whilden rounded out the runners in the 8k race, with a 35th-place finish for Skoczenski and 44th place for Stover-Whilden. 

Up Next

The Gryphons will next hit the trail on September 21st, when they travel to Bethpage State Park for the Golden Eagle Invitational. The first race of the day will start at 11:00am as the Gryphons look to build off their impressive performances at the Purchase Invitational.