WILLIAMSTOWN, MA – The Saint Joseph's women's cross country team placed 23rd out of 41 participating programs with 644 points in the 2012 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Women's Cross Country Championship on Saturday. Freshman Lauren Rabideau (Ballston Spa, N.Y.) paced the Royal Blue and finished in 70th place overall.
For the Monks, the team's finish and point total both rank as the best efforts posted in the ECAC Championship since the 2008 event, when St. Joe's placed 18th with 556 points.
With all five scoring runners in the top 11, Middlebury College cruised to its fourth-consecutive ECAC crown with 31 points. Tufts University finished as the runner-up with 63 points while Williams College (140 points), Amherst College (157) and Saint Joseph's (LI) (200) rounded out the top five teams in the annual championship.
Individually, Drew University senior Jennifer Van Winger topped the 284-runner field with a 22:55 effort and Middlebury sophomore Lucy Whipps finished as the runner-up with a 22:58 performance. William Smith College senior Emily D'Addario placed third with a 23:12 time, Williams College freshman Meg Richardson was fourth with a 23:17 effort and Springfield College junior Gabriella Gaudreaul toured the 6K trail in 23:22 en route to a fifth-place finish.
For the Monks, freshman Heather Eaton (Lincolnville, Maine) placed 92nd with a 25:38 time, senior Ashley Condon (Sumner, Maine) was 124th with a 26:12 effort and freshman Riley Jones (Winslow, Maine) finished 190th with a 28:21 performance. Freshman Grace Dancoes (Falmouth, Maine) placed 205th (28:45) and sophomore Kirstin McCombs (Lewiston, Maine) was 213th (28:58) in the regional competition.
Saint Joseph's will compete in the NCAA DIII New England Regional Championship in Westfield, Massachusetts on Saturday, November 10th at 12:00 PM.