BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Freshmen were the top finishers for the Bentley University cross country teams during the prestigious 47^th annual Paul Short Run at Lehigh University's Goodman Campus Course Friday afternoon.

The men's team was led by Sam Capobianco (North Reading/Phillips Andover Acad.) while the top finishers for the Falcon women were Caitlin Burmester (Willow Grove, Pa./Upper Dublin HS) and Lauren Joseph (Coventry, R.I./Coventry HS).

Capobianco was 23^rd among 202 competitors during the 8,000-meter men's College White race, finishing in 26:50.8. On the women's side, Burmester was 24^th of 247 and Joseph was 33^rd in the women's College White race. They recorded 6,000-meter times of 23:29.1 and 23:41.4, respectively. There were four races for both men and women in what is considered the premier cross country meet in the country: Open, Gold, Brown and White.

Next across the finish line for the Bentley men were senior Derek Pittorino (Westborough/Westborough HS) and juniors Nick Ondr (Ozark, Mo./ Glendale HS) and Brice Tolan (Abington/Abington HS). They finished within 11 seconds of each other with Pittorino 103^rd (28:35.8), Ondr 108^th (28:45.3) and Tolan 109^th (28:46.8).

Bentley's number three runner for the women's team was senior Samantha Bilodeau (New Ipswich, N.H./Mascenic Reg. HS), 83^rd with a clocking of 24:35.4.

In the team standings, the Falcon men were 15^th of 21 and the Bentley women were 16^th of 27.

Bentley's next meet will be the Northeast-10 Championships at Saint Anselm on Oct. 24.