The rainy weather in Bethlehem leading up to the invitational made for unfavorable racing conditions. Runners had to find steady footing as they navigated the muddy five- and eight-kilometer trails on Lehigh’s Goodman Campus Course.

“It had rained heavily the night before and morning of the race, so the all-grass course was extremely muddy and slippery,” sophomore Alaina Alvarez said. “The course itself was moderately challenging and increasingly hilly, finishing [with] the last 2k mostly uphill.”

Alvarez and the rest of the women’s team had a solid outing at the invitational as well. Though the squad was outclassed by Ancient Eight rival Cornell, which won the women’s title with 55 points, one member of the team turned in possibly the best outing of her collegiate career.

“Morgan Kelly had an outstanding, breakthrough performance,” Saretsky said. “I’m really proud of how she performed.”

Saretsky said that Kelly, who has consistently been one of the Crimson’s top runners, was nursing a cold last week but was able to shake off the symptoms and compete in the race.

The other scoring runners for the Harvard women included Alvarez and classmates Viviana Hanley and Whitney Thornburg and senior Briana Jackucewicz, who finished in 61st, 70th, 155th, and 102nd places, respectively.

The Paul Short Invitational gave the Crimson teams a chance to race against nearly 700 runners competed at the meet.

“It was a tremendously large field,” Saretsky said. “It’s a great experience for our team. To have that under our belt is going to set us up really well for the rest of the season.”

—Staff writer Dominic A. Martinez can be reached at dmartinez@college.harvard.edu.