Anna Amato Leads Towson Cross Country to Seventh-Place Finish at Main Line Invitational
Towson University women’s cross country continued its 2026 season with another strong performance Friday afternoon, placing seventh at the Main Line Invitational at Haverford College in Haverford, Pennsylvania.
Sophomore Anna Amato once again led the Tigers, completing the 5K Fran Rizzo Cross Country Course in 18:15.90 to finish 14th overall. Rebekka Hillier followed with a 26th-place performance, while senior Baara Stewart was the third Towson runner across the finish line.
Towson accumulated 179 points, finishing seventh in a competitive field that featured several Division I programs. Villanova won the team championship with 44 points, followed by Penn with 62 and Stony Brook with 73. La Salle placed fourth with 91 points, George Mason was fifth with 120 and Swarthmore edged Towson for sixth with 170.
The Tigers finished comfortably ahead of host Haverford, which scored 229 points. Gettysburg followed in ninth with 268, while Widener, Bryn Mawr, Muhlenberg and Ursinus rounded out the team standings.
Amato continues impressive start
Amato has quickly established herself at the front of Towson’s lineup through the first two meets of the season.
She finished 14th Friday with a time of 18:15.90, shaving more than 38 seconds off the 18:54.50 personal-best performance she produced in Towson’s season-opening Mount St. Mary’s 5K Duals. Amato won that season-opening race and has now been the first Tiger across the finish line in each of Towson’s first two competitions.
Her performance was particularly impressive considering the strength at the front of the Main Line Invitational field. La Salle senior Gwenno Goode won the individual race in 17:44.0, with Stony Brook’s Shaylen Goslar finishing second at 17:47.2. Villanova’s Hannah Jicha took third in 17:49.3.
Only 31.9 seconds separated Amato from the individual champion.
The Towson sophomore was also less than 10 seconds away from the top 10. Penn’s Kelly Murray claimed 10th in 18:06.6, demonstrating how tightly packed the front portion of the field was.
Hillier delivers another strong performance
Hillier continued her steady start to the season by finishing second among Towson runners.
She crossed the finish line in 18:31.00 and placed 26th overall. Combined with Amato, Towson put two runners among the first 26 finishers in the field.
Hillier’s performance was another important piece of Towson’s early-season consistency. Amato, Hillier and Stewart have occupied the Tigers’ first three scoring positions in both meets this season.
That consistency gives Towson a developing front three as the schedule progresses toward larger meets and eventually the championship portion of the season.
Stewart remains among Towson’s top three
Stewart provided the veteran presence within Towson’s leading group.
The senior completed the course in 19:03.10 and finished 39th. Her performance gave the Tigers three runners across the finish line within approximately 47 seconds of one another.
Having Amato, Hillier and Stewart consistently occupy the top three positions is an encouraging development through the opening weeks. Cross country team scoring depends heavily on minimizing the gaps between runners, and Towson has shown early evidence of establishing a dependable leading group.
The Tigers’ top five runners Friday were separated by just 1 minute, 47.8 seconds.
Pizzulli and Duhon complete scoring five
Sophomores Skylar Pizzulli and Whitney Duhon completed Towson’s scoring lineup.
Pizzulli finished in 19:57.90, placing 58th overall, while Duhon followed closely in 20:03.70 and finished 60th. Only 5.8 seconds separated Towson’s fourth and fifth runners.
Towson’s five scorers combined for an official total time of approximately 1:35:51 and an average near 19:11 according to Towson’s recap. The official meet results list Towson with 179 points and a 19:10 team average when rounded differently.
The team’s scoring positions were 14th, 26th, 38th, 50th and 51st once runners who did not count toward team scoring were accounted for. That placed Towson nine points behind Swarthmore for sixth but 50 points ahead of eighth-place Haverford.
Tigers face strong field
The Main Line Invitational provided Towson with an early opportunity to compete against quality regional competition.
Villanova ultimately placed five scoring runners among the first 15 scoring positions and won with 44 points. Penn finished 18 points behind the Wildcats, while Stony Brook was another 11 points back.
Villanova’s five scorers finished third, fifth, eighth, 13th and 15th overall. Jicha led the Wildcats in 17:49.3, followed by Cecilia Montagnese in fifth at 17:57.0 and Therese Trainer in eighth at 18:02.5.
Towson finished ahead of host Haverford despite the Fords running on their home course. Haverford totaled 229 points, 50 behind the Tigers. The Fords’ top runner, Anastasia Jaycobs, finished 33rd in 18:49.8.
For Towson, seventh place represented another useful early-season measuring point against a field featuring programs from multiple conferences and competitive levels.
Tigers building off strong season opener
Towson entered Haverford after an encouraging performance at the Mount St. Mary’s 5K Duals.
The Tigers finished second in that meet, with Amato capturing the individual championship in a then-personal-best 18:54.50. Towson’s five scoring runners averaged 19:55 and were separated by 1:46.
Friday’s performance demonstrated improvement in the team’s overall pace.
Towson’s top-five average dropped from 19:55 at Mount St. Mary’s to approximately 19:11 at Haverford. While course conditions and competition make direct comparisons between cross country races imperfect, the faster times and Amato’s continued progress provide encouraging signs early in the campaign.
The Tigers also maintained almost the same spread between their first and fifth scorers. That indicates Towson was able to increase its overall pace without dramatically separating its scoring group.
Amato emerging at front of lineup
Two races into the season, Amato has provided Towson with a consistent presence at the front.
She opened the year with an individual victory and followed it by placing 14th against a substantially deeper field at Haverford. Her 18:15.90 Friday represented another major improvement from the season-opening performance.
Hillier and Stewart have provided similar consistency directly behind her.
Having the same three runners finish first, second and third for Towson in consecutive meets gives the Tigers a foundation as they prepare for increasingly competitive events later in the fall.
The next challenge will be reducing the gap between Towson’s third, fourth and fifth scoring positions. Stewart crossed in 19:03.10, while Pizzulli and Duhon finished just under and just over the 20-minute mark, respectively.
If that group can move closer together, Towson could significantly improve its team scoring.
Paul Short Run up next
Towson will now have two weeks before returning to competition.
The Tigers are scheduled to travel back to Pennsylvania for the 52nd annual Paul Short Run at Lehigh University on Friday, Oct. 2.
The Paul Short Run traditionally provides large and competitive fields, giving Towson another opportunity to evaluate its lineup as the Tigers move deeper into the fall schedule.
After two meets, Towson has already produced a second-place team finish, an individual victory from Amato and a seventh-place result against a deep field at Haverford.
MSB Take
Towson’s seventh-place finish becomes more encouraging when looking beyond the team position and examining how the Tigers ran.
Anna Amato continues to establish herself as Towson’s leader. Following an individual victory in the season opener with a 14th-place performance against a stronger field — while lowering her 5K time to 18:15.90 — represents significant early-season progress. Rebekka Hillier and Baara Stewart have also provided consistency by remaining Towson’s second and third runners in both meets.
The next area for Towson to improve is the distance between the front three and the final two scoring positions. Pizzulli and Duhon were separated by fewer than six seconds, which gives the Tigers a solid pairing in the back half of their scoring lineup. Moving that pair closer to Stewart would make Towson much more difficult to beat in tightly contested team races.
Most importantly, the Tigers appear to be building rather than simply maintaining their opening-meet form. Their top-five average improved substantially at Haverford, and Amato demonstrated she can compete near the front of a field containing runners from Villanova, Penn, Stony Brook, La Salle and George Mason.
The Paul Short Run should provide the next major test. Towson has two weeks to prepare, and another strong performance there would continue an encouraging start to the 2026 cross country season.
