Wellesley Cross Country Finishes 13th at Pre-National Meet

LANSING, Mich. - Wellesley College cross country nabbed a 13th place finish in a crowded field of 36 teams at the 6k NCAA Division III Pre-National Meet in Lansing, Mich. on the Forest Akers East Golf Course. Senior Claire Anderson (Denver, Colo.) led the Blue with a 24th place finish and a time of 22:41.3. 

Loras College graduate student Kassie Parker (Guttenberg, Iowa) was the individual winner with a time of 20:31.2. The University of Chicago won the meet (59) with three of the top five runners, followed by MIT (106) in second place, and the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (118) in third place.

Wellesley senior Ellie Murphy-Weise (San Francisco, Calif.) earned 45th place, running the 6k in 23:13.0. First years Ella Whinney (Madison, Wis.), Claire Peng (Chapel Hill, N.C.) and Emily Brydges (Suffield, Conn.) were the final scoring runners for the Blue. Whinney was 69th overall (23:34.0), followed by Peng in 178th (25:03.0) and Brydges in 194th (25:22.1). 

Also running for the Blue were first year's Simone Beauchamp (Aurora, Colo.) (26:08.5), Caelan Schretzmayer (Port Jefferson, N.Y.) (26:09.6), Megan Cunningham (Portland, Maine) (26:44.3), sophomore Alicia Naranjo-Champion (El Monte, Calif.) (27:27. 1), and senior Bethany Pasko (Wellesley, Mass.) (27:35.7).

The Blue suit up to race again at the Connecticut College Invitational on October 15 at Harkness Memorial State Park in Waterford, Conn.