STANDISH, MAINE - Saint Joseph's College hosted and won the inaugural Cross Country Championship for the Association of Division III Independents Northeast Region on Saturday morning. Participating schools included Green Mountain College (VT), UMaine Presque Isle, Mitchell College (CT) and Newbury College (MA).

The St. Joe's women won with a team score of 22 and Green Mountain had 48 points for the second place spot. St. Joe's Sarah Willis (Buckland, MA) took the women's individual 5K race with a time of 20:49.

UMPI's Michelle Phillips (Riverview, NB) took second place in the women's 5K run with a time of 22:53. Newbury College's Jaye Weldon (North Attleboro, MA) finished in third (25:11). Close behind were St. Joe's Jasmine Smith (Standish, ME) in 4th, Aubrey Gray (Winthrop, MA) in 5th, Suzanne Connelly (Hingham, MA) in 7th, and Sara Forrest (Westport Island, ME) in 11th. Rounding out the SJC line-up were Michelle Sanborn (Standish, ME), Robin Caron (Portage Lake, ME) and Shannon Flynn (Manchester, NH).

The Association of Division III Independents consists of 17 NCAA Division III independent institutions which have joined together to recognize student-athletes at member institutions and to provide exempted postseason championship competition.