WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – Competing against six nationally-ranked programs, the Baldwin Wallace University women's cross country team took sixth place in the Purple Valley Classic, hosted by Williams (Mass.) College at Mount Greylock High School.

BW placed sixth of 13 teams with a total of 146 points. Massachusetts Institute of Technology was the women's 6k winner with 67 points. The nationally-ranked teams included MIT (fourth), Middlebury (sixth), Williams (eighth), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (12th), Tufts (14th) and Hamilton (28th) from both the Atlantic and New England Regions.

The Yellow Jackets got off to an aggressive start but struggled to keep up the pace for the whole race. Despite the slight fade, BW's top runners were still able to keep the team score down. Junior two-time All-Ohio Athletic Conference and Academic All-OAC performer Kelly Brennan (Akron/Walsh Jesuit) led the way with a 14th-place finish in a time of 23 minutes, 25.9 seconds. Fellow junior All-OAC and Academic All-OAC performer Bella Pendola (Warsaw/River View) was not far behind, running a time of 23:33.1 to place 18th. Freshman All-Great Lakes Region performer Madison Kile (North Canton/Hoover) also recorded a top-25 mark in a time of 23:40.0 to finish 22nd.

Round out the Yellow Jackets top five were sophomore Molina Otte (Omaha, Neb./Millard West) and freshman Alyssa Laughner (Howard, Pa./Central Mountain). Otte fought through her race to finish 36th in a career-best 6k time of 24:01.2 while Laughner was able to make an impression in her first collegiate race, putting together a time of 24:53.9 to finish 66th.

BW will return back to Ohio to compete in the All-Ohio Championships, hosted by the University of Akron, on Saturday, Sept. 29, at the Silver Creek Metro Park Cross Country Trails.