RPI sophomore Jules Bleskoski was recognized for her efforts at the 2024 Paul Short Run by the United States Track & Field Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) on Monday, October 7 earning this week’s Division III Women’s National Athlete of the Week.
Bleskoski won the Paul Short Run Women’s College White 6k race, hosted by Lehigh on Saturday. She topped the field of 373 runners with a time of 20:42.5 (5:34 per mile pace) and recorded a margin of victory of nearly six seconds (5.7). Bleskoski beat three top ten finishers from last year’s NCAA DIII Cross Country Championships as well as four other All-Americans. This was the second straight first place finish for the sophomore, she also earned top honors at Williams College’s Purple Valley Invitational on September 21st (25:20.9).
Last Saturday, Bleskoski led RPI to a fourth-place finish in the team standings among 46 teams in the College White 6k race, knocking off top-10 ranked squads Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and SUNY Geneseo.
Individually, she was 28th overall among the 1,289 runners from Division I, Division II, and Division III that took part in the 50th Paul Short run on October 5. As a team, the Engineers were 35th (155 teams).
This is the first time a female athlete from RPI has been named an Athletic National Athlete of the Week during the Cross Country season.