WATERFORD, Conn. – The Saint Joseph's College women's cross country team capped the 2015 season with a 46th place finish in the NCAA DIII New England Regional Championship at Harness Memorial State Park on Saturday afternoon. Heather Eaton (Lincolnville, Maine) led the Monks with a 24:43 time and placed 169th out of 390 runners overall.
Featuring four of the top 10 runners, Williams College cruised to the regional title with 44 points, 63 ahead of runner-up Tufts University. Both programs advance to the NCAA DIII Championship, which will take place next Saturday by University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in Winneconne, Wisconsin. For Williams, the New England crown is the program's third since the 2003 campaign and first since 2013.
Williams also claimed the men's title, marking the second time in the last three years that the Ephs swept the NCAA Regional Championship.
MIT junior Maryann Gong captured the individual title with a 21:36 performance, 13 seconds faster than runner-up Hannah Cole, who is a junior from Williams College. New England College junior Abby Shafer was third (21:43), Williams sophomore Victoria Kingham was fourth (21:47) and Middlebury College freshman Abigail Nadler rounded out the top five individuals with a 21:47 performance.
This year's regional event featured the largest number of runners in the last 13 years and three more than last year's tally.
Rounding out the top five teams were Middlebury (108 points), MIT (114) and Wellesley College (170).
Third place Middlebury and fourth place MIT – ranked eighth and third, respectively, in the latest USTFCCCA national poll, are both likely to qualify for NCAA's as well with an at-large bid, which will be granted under the discretion of the USTFCCCA. The top seven individual finishers from non-qualifying teams will earn a ticket to Nationals as well.
For the Monks, freshman Sarah Curtin (Strafford, N.H.) finished 204th (25:14), first-year Maureen Herlihy (Walpole, Mass.) was 308th (27:00), rookie Lauren Lecompte (Lewiston, Maine) placed 313th (27:09), junior Kristina Schelling (Pelham, N.H.) was 355th (28:37), junior Marisa Lundy (Merrimac, Mass.) finished 374th (30:12) and junior Megan McLaughlin (Kingston, N.H.) placed 390th (35:48).
#GOMONKS
Follow Saint Joseph's Athletics on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram!
Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 474-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.
