Blue Cross Country with Strong Showing at ECAC Championships

WESTFIELD, Mass. — Wellesley College cross country ran to a seventh place finish at the annual ECAC Division III Cross Country Championships at Stanley Park in Westfield, Mass. 

All five of the Blue's scoring runners finished within twenty seconds of each other. Junior Heather Smith led the pack, completing the 6k event with a time of 23:37.88 and earning Wellesley's top finish at 36th overall. 

Smith was followed by first year Isabella King, who came in at 23:49.34. Both Sharon Ng and Sara Vannah finished just behind King, as the trio took places 42, 43 and 44. King recorded a time of 23:49.34, just tenths ahead of Ng who finished at 23:49.82. Vannah was all of three seconds behind Ng with a time of 23:52.36. 

Junior Laura Brindley completed Wellesly's score with a time of 23:57.96, good enough for 45th place in the field over 300 runners from 48 different New England institutions. 

First year Taylor Fortnam and and junior Alessandra Gavin also posted strong times for the Blue, with Fortum taking 51st overall at 24:05.83 and Gavin taking 72nd at 24:26.58. 

Blue cross country will now look forward to the NCAA Regionals a week from today on Saturday, November 15 at Mt. Greylock High School in Williamstown, Mass. The event is being hosted by Williams College and the women's race is set to take place at 12:30 PM.