Opening her outdoor season at Princeton University’s Sam Howell Invitational Friday Night Distance Races, Connelly turned in the top 5K time of all NEC rookies thus far this spring. The freshman clipped more than 36 seconds off of her previous PR, clocking in at 18:07.59 and moving into fifth place on the NEC’s 5,000m leader board. Connelly placed sixth in her heat of 23 at Princeton and outranks the next closest NEC rookie in the event by more than 24 seconds.