EDWARDSVILLE, IL – The University of Rochester women's cross country team took eighth at the 2025 University Athletic Association (UAA) Cross Country Championships, hosted by Washington University in St. Louis on Saturday at the SIUE Cross-Country Course.
 
Riley Joseph was URochester's top finisher, placing 36th with a time of 22:42.4. The senior moved up nine spots over the final two-thirds of the race, after crossing the one-mile mark in 45th.
 
Alyssa Horng came in second for Rochester in 54th place, clocking in at 23:16.7, while Sam Mermelstein was the Yellowjackets' third-highest finisher in 60th place with a 23:27.9 time.
 
Ella Blau came in 61st, just behind Mermelstein with a time of 23:28.0, while Ariane Yedidia rounded out Rochester's top-five runners with a time of 24:00.7, good for 70th.
 
The Yellowjackets' displacers were Maria Khalifeh in 72nd place (24:07.7) and Adriana Ochoa in 73rd (24:27.2), while Peyton Classer came in 75th, crossing the finish line in 24:33.4.
 
As a team, the Yellowjackets tallied 232 points for eighth place, with No. 5 NYU taking home the title with 25 points. 7th-ranked Carnegie Mellon, with 54 points, and No. 10 UChicago, with 80 points, rounded out the top three in the team standings.
 
Individually, NYU's Ashlyn Pallota won the meet with a time of 21:00.8, just ahead of Carnegie Mellon's Chloe Bonson in second place, with a time of 21:07.8.
 
The Yellowjackets are back in action in a couple of weeks when they compete at the 2025 NCAA Niagara Region, hosted by RIT at Genesee Valley Park, on Saturday, Nov. 15 at 11:00 a.m.