Blue Cross Country Takes Second at NEWMACs; Earns Five All-Conference Awards

BOSTON, Mass. – Wellesley College cross country senior Priyanka Fouda (Wellesley, Mass.) took runner-up honors as the Blue finished second overall in the team standings at the 2015 New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Women's Cross Country Championship on Sunday at Franklin Park. 

Fouda led a group of five Wellesley runners that earned All-Conference recognition at the championship, including: first year Mary Naas (St. Paul, Minn.), juniors Mary Keenan (Boerne, Texas) and Edie Sharon (Winchester, Mass.) and senior Sharon Ng (Sunnyvale, Calif.).

MIT placed six runners in the top-ten, led by a first place time from NEWMAC Women's Cross Country Runner of the Year Maryann Gong (Livermore, Calif.), to claim the title for the ninth consecutive season, finishing first with a score of 17 points. The Blue followed in second place with 37 points, while third place WPI (117 points), fourth place Smith College (149 points) and fifth place Wheaton College (152 points) rounded out the top five. Mount Holyoke College (166 points) took sixth, followed by the U.S. Coast Guard Academy (168 points) in seventh, Springfield College (206 points) in eighth, Clark University (245 points) in ninth, Babson College (271 points) in tenth and Emerson College (337 points) in eleventh.

Gong paced the field with a time of 18:04, finishing 25 seconds ahead of Fouda. The Engineers went on to sweep the next four spots, as first year Leandra Zimmerman (Augsburg, Germany) took third with a time of 18:30, sophomore Mary Eccles (Wahiawa, Hawaii) grabbed fourth in 18:41, senior Nicole Zeinstra (Holland, Mich.) finished fifth with a time of 18:43 and junior Christina Wicker (Oak Harbor, Wash.) took sixth when she crossed the line in 18:46.

Zimmerman was also named NEWMAC Rookie of the Year as the top-finisher among first year runners in the field.

Wellesley followed by taking places seven through nine. Naas took seventh with a mark of 18:48, while Keenan and Sharon took eighth and ninth, respectively, with times of 18:55 and 18:57.

MIT first year Megan Montgomery (Carrolton, Texas) rounded out the top-ten with a time of 19:01. Ng was the next to cross the line, thanks to a time of 19:03. Wheaton senior Georgia Crane (Rye, N.Y.), took 12th in 19:04, Mount Holyoke sophomore Sunny Shan (Cupertino, Calif.) finished 13th in 19:05 and WPI sophomore Emily Newman (Easton, Mass.) rounded out the top-14 with a time of 19:13.

The top-14 finishers in Sunday's five-kilometer NEWMAC Women's Cross Country Championship earned NEWMAC All-Conference honors.

Up next, the Blue will race at the ECAC Championships on Saturday, November 7, at 11:00 AM. 

2015 NEWMAC Women's Cross Country Runner of the Year
Maryann Gong, MIT

2015 NEWMAC Women's Cross Country Rookie of the Year
Leandra Zimmerman, MIT

2015 NEWMAC Women's Cross Country All-Conference Team
Maryann Gong, MIT
Priyanka Fouda, Wellesley
Leandra Zimmerman, MIT
Mary Eccles, MIT
Nicole Zeinstra, MIT
Christina Wicker, MIT
Mary Naas, Wellesley
Mary Keenan, Wellesley
Edie Sharon, Wellesley
Megan Montgomery, MIT
Sharon Ng, Wellesley
Georgia Crane, Wheaton
Sunny Shan, Mount Holyoke
Emily Newman, WPI