Boots Wins NEWMAC Cross Country Championships; Blue Take 2nd

WORCESTER, Mass.  - Wellesley sophomore Randelle Boots (Seekonk, Mass.) took home the individual title at the 2010 NEWMAC Cross Country Championships.  Her victory led the Blue to a second place finish at the event, just behind MIT, who took first.

Three-time defending champion MIT had five runners finish in the top eight – including a pair of freshmen - and the Engineers won their fourth straight NEWMAC women's cross country championship on Saturday afternoon at Moore State Park.

MIT, which finished with 24 points, had runners finish second, third and fourth, with second place finisher Katherine Eve (Fremont, Calif.) wrapping up the 5K layout nearly eight seconds behind individual champion, Boots, of Wellesley.

The course ran exceptionally fast as the top 17 finishers all ran times faster than the previous course record.

Boots' teammates, Camille Basurto (Wilton, Conn.), who was fifth with a time of 18:53.02 and Leah Clement (East Lyme, Conn.), who was sixth with a 18:56.15 performance, helped the Blue to a second place team finish with 31 points.

Wellesley's 31 points were the highest total for a runner-up in the history of the event.  Aside from Boots, Basurto and Clement, the Blue were paced by Cristina Lucas (Glendale, Calif.) and Molly Shanley (Marshfield, Mass.), who took ninth and tenth place overall. 

MIT freshman Martina de Geus was the race's top freshman finisher in seventh place with a time of 19:03.75 to earn the 2010 NEWMAC Rookie of the Year award.   Wellesley was followed by Smith (121), Springfield and Coast Guard (136), Wheaton (152) and WPI (180). Mount Holyoke (203), Clark (231) and Wheaton (274) rounded out the field.

2010 NEWMAC Women's Cross Country All-Conference
Randelle Boots, Wellesley
Katherine Eve, MIT
Tania Morimoto, MIT
Alina Gatowski, MIT
Camille Basurto, Wellesley
Leah Clement, Wellesley
Martina de Geus, MIT  
Clair O'Connell, MIT
Cristina Lucas, Wellesley
Molly Shanley, Wellesley
Charlotte Margel, Babson
Lacey Cartier, Springfield
Sarah Sprague, MIT
Vicky Hewey, WPI  


2010 NEWMAC Women's Cross Country Athlete of the Year
Randelle Boots, Wellesley  

2010 NEWMAC Women's Cross Country Rookie of the Year
Martina de Geus, MIT

Release courtesy Clark Sports Information