Blue Cross Country Ranks Ninth out of 53 Teams at NCAA Regional

GORHAM, Maine -- The Wellesley College cross country team recorded a ninth place finish at the 2013 NCAA New England Regional meet on Saturday at the Narragansett School. The event was hosted by the University of New England.

Wellesley ranked ninth in the field of 53 teams, recording a top-10 finish for the fifth-consecutive year. Individually, all seven of the Blue's runners came in the top-100 of the 371-runner field.

Leading the way for Wellesley, sophomore Priyanka Fouda earned All-Region honors with a 29th-place finish. She covered the 6k course in a time of 22:08.81, improving on her 34th place finish in the 2012 NCAA Regional.

After Fouda, a trio of Wellesley first-years crossed the finish in Mary Keenan, Sonja Cwik, and Alice Zhou. Keenan ran a 22:28.97, to finish 45th overall, while Cwik placed 56th in 22:43.40. Zhou completed the course in 23:07.05, recording an 80th place finish.

Also scoring for the Blue, sophomore Alessandra Gavin finished 83rd overall in her first NCAA regional appearance. She clocked in at 23:09.69.

Juniors Nicole Chui and Alexandra Dunn also raced well for the Blue. Chui finished 86th overall, bettering her 2011 finish of 127th by running a time of 23:11.79. Dunn placed 96th overall in her first regional race, finishing the 6k in 23:26.17.

As a team, Wellesley recorded 293 total points, ranking second among NEWMAC opponents at the meet. Williams took the team title with 44 points, followed by Middlebury (57), and MIT (127). 

Williams' Kaleigh Kenny won the individual title at the event. The senior covered the course in a time of 21:02.18.