Fouda Leads Blue Cross Country to Historic Win at Seven Sisters Championship
HAVERFORD, Pa. – Led by individual champion Priyanka Fouda (Wellesley, Mass.) Wellesley College cross country took the top four spots and seven of the top-ten to win the 2015 Seven Sisters Cross Country Championship, hosted by Bryn Mawr College on Sunday at Haverford College. The title is the second straight for the Blue and the eleventh in program history.
It was an historic day for the Blue, as Wellesley set a Seven Sisters record with an overall team score of 16, besting the previous mark of 24 set by Barnard at the inaugural Seven Sisters Cross Country Championship in 1982.
Mount Holyoke College (79 points) narrowly topped Vassar College (81) to take second place, while Smith College (118) took fourth and the host Owls (120) captured fifth place. St. Catherine University (142) and Simmons College (173) rounded out the field in sixth and seventh, respectively.
"We certainly had a good day, defending the team and individual titles, but I'm more proud of the way the team executed the race plan with confidence," said Wellesley Head Coach Phil Jennings following the race.
Fouda led the pack with a time of 22:58.1, becoming the first Wellesley runner to ever win the individual title in back-to-back years and the first in Seven Sisters history since Jokotade Agunloye of Swarthmore accomplished the feat in 1999 and 2000.
"We wanted to hang back early and focus more on the second half of the race, and Priyanka waited until 3k to take the lead with her teammates right behind," said Jennings. "Overall, it was a solid team effort from top to bottom and puts us in a good place heading into the bigger championship season starting with NEWMAC's in two weeks."
Junior Mary Keenan (Boerne, Texas) and first year Mary Naas (St. Paul, Minn.) took second and third, as only a fraction of a second separated Keenan's second place time of 23:07.2 from Naas' third place finish in 23:07.8.
Senior Sharon Ng (Sunnyvale, Calif.) then closed out a Wellesley sweep of the top four with her time of 23:11.5. Classmate Carolyn Chelius (Haddonfield, N.J.) was the final scoring runner for the Blue in sixth place with a time of 23.29.3. Host Bryn Mawr was the only other school to get a top-five finish, as senior Hannah Hastings (Potomac, Md.) finished in fifth with a time of 23:15.8.
Sophomore Isabella King (Cincinnati, Ohio) and senior Alessandra Gavin (Annapolis, Md.) helped the Blue secure seven of the top-ten times, as King took eighth in 23:33.7 and Gavin finished tenth in 23:35.6. The Blue would go on to add an eighth runner in the top-15, when junior Sonja Cwik (La Canada, Calif.) crossed the line in 23:47.4.
Fouda, Keenan, Naas, Ng, Chelius, King and Gavin were all named to the All-Seven Sisters Team, along with Hastings, Kathleen Ferrall (Guilford, Conn.) of Smith, the seventh place finisher in 23:32.2, and Sunny Shan (Cupertino, Calif.) of Mount Holyoke, who took ninth in 23:35.4.
Wellesley cross country returns to action in two weeks at the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championships. Wellesley will host the event at Franklin Park in Boston on Saturday, November 7, beginning with the women's race at 11:00 AM.
All Seven Sisters Team
Priyanka Fouda, Wellesley (22:58.1)
Mary Keenan, Wellesley (23:07.2)
Mary Naas, Wellesley (23:07.8)
Sharon Ng, Wellesley (23:11.5)
Hannah Hastings, Bryn Mawr (23:15.8)
Carolyn Chelius, Wellesley (23:29.3)
Kathleen Ferrall, Smith (23:32.3)
Isabella King, Wellesley (23:33.7)
Sunny Shan, Mount Holyoke (23:35.4)
Alessandra Gavin, Wellesley (23:35.6)
Team Scores
Wellesley – 16 (Seven Sisters Record)
Mount Holyoke - 79
Vassar - 81
Smith - 118
Bryn Mawr - 120
St. Catherine's - 142
Simmons - 173