BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Everlyn Kemboi set a new meet record to win the 48th annual Paul Short Run on Friday morning while leading No. 16 Utah Valley University to a fifth-place finish in the team standings. The Wolverine men came in 15th and were led by
Joel Mendez, who finished 37th, at Lehigh University's Goodman Campus Cross Country Course.
Kemboi won the race and set the meet record with a personal best time of 19:33.0 in the 416-runner field in the Women's Gold 6K. It marks her second win in the first three meets of the season after her victory at the UVU Invitational on Sept. 1. She also posted a third-place finish at last week's Cowboy Jamboree.
"Eva coming here and breaking the all-time record on this course with all the teams that have been here over the year is pretty impressive," said UVU head coach
Scott Houle.
Mazzie Melaney Preston finished in 50th with a time of 20:25.6 with
Hannah Branch (57th 20:29.7),
Madison Flippence (61st, 20:30.9), and
Maggie Zwahlen (68th, 20:33.6) all coming in just behind her to round out the team scoring. The top eight Wolverine women all established new personal best times in the 6k including
Agnieszka Lubowska, who knocked over two minutes and 23 seconds off her previous best, finishing 144th in a time of 21:11.5. Nine women and seven men all recorded new personal record times on Friday.
"What a great race she (Lubowska) had. She was sick all last year and is really starting to get her legs back under her, so I'm really excited for her," Houle said. "This was an impressive atmosphere to be in here and for the most part we ran pretty well. I think we were a little bit flat coming off the big meet and quick turnaround from last week. All-in-all to be able to beat some teams that allow us to get some more points helps our case when it comes down to the selection committee."
Mendez ran the Men's Gold 8k in 23:32.4 and was one of seven Utah Valley men to set new personal records.
Max Mahon was next in 58th, with a time of 23:42.8.
Austin Hone (100th, 24:03.0),
Habtamu Cheney (125th, 24:15.1), and
Adam Bunker (136th, 24:20.6) rounded out the scorers on the men's side.
"Joel is continuing to do a great job for us. I think he's rounding himself into a pretty solid runner and is leading the pack right now. As a team on the men's side, I think they ran really well and are starting to move in the right direction and gain more confidence," said Houle.
North Carolina swept the team titles for both the men and women, who are ranked No. 13 and No. 12, respectively. The meet featured 46 programs in both the men's and women's gold races.
The team will run closer to home next weekend, at the SUU Color Country Invitational in Cedar City, Utah on Saturday, Oct. 8. Another big national race will follow that, on Oct. 14, at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational in Madison.
