SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — The 2025 Saint Mary's Women's Cross Country season got underway at the USF Invitational, with the Gaels taking home seventh place in the 13 team field. The Gaels kept their pace from start to finish in the race, remaining in the middle of the pack throughout, while other teams who got off to faster starts fell off their pace, allowing SMC to climb into the #2 spot amongst WCC schools at the event. Most notably, three of the Gaels top five finishers were true freshmen making their collegiate debuts, demonstrating the exciting depth of this year's incoming class.
Kaylee Barnes paced the Gaels, as she did all of last season. Barnes got out to a blazing fast 6:50.8 first lap around the two kilometer course, hanging onto a spot inside the top-10. She remained in the top-10 through the second lap, dropping just one spot with a second lap time of 7:03.2. Two more runners were able to pass Barnes in the final lap, as she finished her first race of the season in 12th with a time of 21:31.6, her second fastest time at the Golden Gate Park Cross Country Course.
The Gaels next most consistent returner from a season ago, Eleanor Jepsen was the Gaels third finisher, but the most exciting part of this event for Gaels fans was the fact that their second, fourth and fifth finishers were all true freshmen. The second Saint Mary's finisher to cross the finish line was Zoe Leach. Hailing from Modesto, Leach was recognized as one of the top cross country runners in the Sac-Joaquin Section a year ago, and left her mark on her first collegiate cross country race, finishing in 33rd with a time of 22:12.6. The Gaels two international true freshman rounded out the group of top five finishers, with Courtney Fitzgibbon of New Zealand taking 43rd, and Flavia Linares of Canada jumping six spots over the final 2K to take home 47th. The late surge from Linares catapulted the Gaels past Santa Clara for seventh, as the two teams finished separated by just one point.
The Gaels will next be in action on September 13 as they will head to Ceres, California for the Kim Duyst Invitational.
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