Posted: Nov 10, 2018

Cowles Leads Blue Cross Country to 12th at NCAA DIII Regional Championships

Cowles earned All-Region honors with a 24th place finish (One More Shot Photography).

BRUNSWICK, Maine -- Sophomore Grace Cowles (Yarmouth, Maine) finished with an All-Region time of 22:34.80 to lead Wellesley College cross country to 12th place at the 2018 NCAA Division III New England Regional Championships on Saturday at Bowdoin College.

Cowles was 24th overall on the 6k course, earning her first career All-Region honor to cap a sophomore campaign that also included NEWMAC All-Conference and Seven Sisters individual champion honors. The Blue totaled 364 points in the team standings, finishing 24 points behind 11th place Wesleyan. MIT (87) and Middlebury (108) finished first and second to earn automatic bids to the NCAA National Championship meet.

First year Maya Bradbury (Freeport, Maine) was second among Wellesley's scoring runners, finishing 61st overall with a time of 23:17.27. Four of Wellesley's top-five runners finished in the top-100 on Saturday, as sophomore Samara Shaz (New York, N.Y.) added an 81st place time of 23:36.22 and sophomore Ava Shipman (Makawao, Hawaii) took 96th in 23:51.61.

First year Ariana Marks (Eagle Point, Ore.) rounded out the Blue team score, placing 102nd in 23:57.43. Juniors Keiko Hilmo (Saint Paul, Minn.) and Taylor Mahlandt (Ephrata, Pa.) added times of 24:00.89 and 24:02.06, placing 104th and 106th, respectively, for Wellesley.

Saturday's race concludes the 2018 season for the Wellesley cross country team.