At Paul Short, six of the top 30 nationally ranked Division I teams will be competing in the race including #8 Princeton, #10 Villanova, #13 Colombia, #15 Georgetown, #19 Tennessee, and #27 Yale. Currently, William & Mary has eight national votes, the fourth-highest total of unranked teams. The Lady Tribe will be looking to use this meet as a springboard into the national rankings. The William & Mary women will be led by sophomore Julia Cathcart, who claimed her first collegiate victory a few weeks ago at the Colonial Invitational. Senior Jackie Kosakowski, junior Kristyn Shiring, and sophomore Meghan Bishop rounded out the top four places behind Cathcart at the Colonial Invite and will be expected to have big races at Paul Short as well.
Many have been anxious for the collegiate racing debut of Richmond freshmen Caitlyn Chock. Chock broke the high school national record in the 5K last year (15:52) and became a huge pickup for the Lady Spiders. Based off her high school bests, Chock should be in individual race contention at Paul Short. Chock will be leading a young and talented UR squad that will look to steadily improve themselves into becoming a NCAA regional challenger.
The Christopher Newport University women\'s team is ranked third currently in the Division III South/Southeast Region and will be counting on a strong Paul Short performance to improve their regional status. The Lady Captains are led by junior Emily Low, who has developed into one of the region\'s top distance runners and a possible contender for a NCAA Nationals individual berth.