Three Earn All-Conference as Blue XC Races to 2nd at NEWMAC Championships

BOSTON, Mass. -- The Wellesley College cross country team placed eight runners in the top-30, as the Blue ran to a runner-up finish at the 2013 New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championships on Sunday. The event was hosted by Babson College at Franklin Park in Boston.

Wellesley recorded 70 team points, finishing behind only MIT, the fourth-ranked team in the nation. The Engineers recorded a team score of 23 to take the title for the seventh straight season. Coast Guard finished third overall with 99 team points, while Wheaton (123) and Smith (126) rounded out the top-five at the 11-team event.

Individually, Wellesley placed three runners on the NEWMAC All-Conference team, led by sophomore Priyanka Fouda's fourth-place finish. Fouda is a repeat All-Conference runner, recording a time of 18:43.30 in the 5k race. Her 2013 time bested her 2012 finish by nearly 25 seconds.

Also earning All-Conference honors for the Blue were first-years Sonja Cwik and Mary Keenan. Cwik covered the course in a time of 19:06.44, good for 13th place. Keenan ran a 19:10.83, putting her in 14th place. A total of 154 runners crossed the finish line in total.

Junior Nicole Chui was Wellesley's next finisher, recording her first-career top-20 NEWMAC placement. She ran a time of 19:27.71 to finish in 19th place. Also scoring for the Blue, sophomore Alessandra Gavin took 23rd place, improving her 2012 placement by 26 spots. She finished the course in a time of 19:34.64.

Rounding out the top-30 finishers for Wellesley were sophomore Laura Brindley, first-year Alice Zhou, and sophomore Sharon Ng. Brindley took 26th overall, recording a time of 19:42.81, while Zhou ran a 19:44.68 to finish 27th. Ng clocked in at 19:46.00 to take 28th place for the Blue. 

Wellesley cross country will be back in action at the 2013 ECAC Championships on Saturday. The event is being hosted by Roger Williams University.