NEWARK, NJ — NJIT raced a full women's team and saw numerous personal bests while posting a 3rd Place finish in the Women's Invitational 5K at the 22nd NJIT Invitational Saturday morning at Branch Brook Park.  

NJIT finished in 3rd place out of 24 competing teams in the Women's Open 5K. Army won the meet with 34 points while UAlbany came in second place at 50. NJIT finished with 124. NJIT finished ahead of all New Jersey schools competing in the race.

The Highlanders placed two women inside the Top 6. Jessie Fotheringham ran a 17.43.50 for a 2nd Place finish and paced freshman Taylor Blackwelder to her 5k cross country personal best time of 17:58.11, which was good for 6th Place. 

Brooke Berry (19:15.98), Hayley Lucido (19:40.32), and Kellyn Coller (20:59.62) made up the rest of NJIT's women's invitational entries, and all three ran 5k lifetime bests which pushed NJIT to the 3rd Place finish. 

"Today resulted in a number of confidence-building performances ahead of the America East Championships in the midst of hosting a very successful home meet with our highest participations numbers," said NJIT Distance Coach Mike Cook. 

On the men's side, freshman middle distance runner Himien Jones made his 8K debut with a convincing time of 27:28.80. Noel Mada was NJIT's other Men's 8K entry, posting a 26:54.70. 

Up Next
The Highlander men prepare for their biggest meet of the season to-date next Friday as they run in Princeton's Joe Handelman '52 Fall Classic. NJIT's women's team will next compete at the America East Conference Championships, set for Friday, October 30 in Albany, NY. 

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Keep up with the NJIT men's and women's XC/TF teams all season long by following along on Instagram and X (@NJITXCTF).