Posted: Sep 15, 2018

Marks, Cowles Lead Wellesley XC to Fifth at UMass Dartmouth Invitational

Sophomore Grace Cowles was 37th overall (19:35.1) on Saturday (Frank Poulin).

DARTMOUTH, Mass. -- First year Ariana Marks (Eagle Point, Ore.) and sophomore Grace Cowles (Yarmouth, Maine) each finished in the top-40 to lead Wellesley College cross country to a fifth place in the 5k Varsity Race on Saturday at the 2018 UMass Dartmouth Invitational.

Marks clocked the top time for the Blue for the second consecutive event, finishing the 5k course in 19:34.0 to take 34th place. Cowles followed in 37th place with a time of 19:35.1.

Brandeis (56) took the overall team title behind a time of 17:54.6 from individual winner Emily Bryson. The Judges were followed by runner-up Trinity (105), Division II Merrimack College (107), WPI (127) and the fifth place Blue (225) in the team standings. There were 45 teams in the field during Saturday's varsity race.

Junior Taylor Mahlandt (Ephrata, Pa.), first year Natalie Li (Charlottesville, Va.) and sophomore Samara Shaz (New York, N.Y.) rounded out the team score for the Blue. Mahlandt finished in 49th with a time of 19:47.7, while Li took 53rd in 19:51.7 and Shaz was 55th in 19:54.6. Also competing in the varsity race, sophomore Ava Shipman (Makawao, Hawaii) was 70th (20;03.4), first year Maya Bradbury (Freeport, Maine) was 74th and sophomore April Chu (Fremont, Calif.) finished 92nd overall (20:21.7).

Following Saturday's Varsity event, the Blue took seventh overall out of fifteen teams in the 5k Sub Varsity race. Junior Elizabeth Wegman (East Sandwich, Mass.) finished in 20:03.8, leading all Division III runners while taking runner-up honors in the event.

Wellesley will return to action on Saturday, September 29, at the Roy Griak Invitational in Minneapolis, Minnesota.