Women's XC 3rd at Nationals; Philbrook earns All-American Status
Lauren Philbrook '09
Women's Cross Country took third place at the NCAA Division III National Cross Country Championship race in Hanover, Indiana today. NESCAC rival, Middlebury, took home the title, followed by Calvin College in second. The Ephs scored 240 points, only 3 points off Calvin's 237 points.
Senior Captain, Lauren Philbrook, had a fantastic performance, finishing 19th overall to earn her first All-American honors (awarded to the top 35). She posted a speedy time of 21 minutes and 31 seconds, a personal best. The second runner for the Ephs was Senior Robin Kuntz, finishing in 68th place. Meghan Shea and Bret Scofield followed her closely in 73rd and 79th respectively. Rounding out the scorers was Elly Teitsworth, in 133rd place. Rachel Asher and Gillian Tedeschi competed for the Ephs Varsity team as well.
Head Coach Pete Farwell comments on the outcome of the race: "Our race goal was to have one front-runner in Lauren, going for All-American, and then a solid pack of 3 or 4 in close grouping somewhere 60-80th places, and next 2 not far back. We accomplished this to near-perfection as Lauren flew to her first-ever All-American finish, and Robin, Meghan and Bret worked wonderfully together to all place in the top 80 (out of 280 runners), with Elly and Rachel locking up our final 3rd place team score. We are elated with that race, as with the whole season!"
This is the best team performance for Williams since 2005 when they were runners up to SUNY Genesceo. The year before (in 2004) they won the title, led by Caroline Cretti, who recently ran the Olympic Marathon Trials last April and finished an impressive 21st place for such a young runner. Williams also won the title in 2002.
The overall winner was Marie Borner from Bethel (Minnesota), who set a quick pace over the 6 kilometer course, running a time of 20 minutes 43 seconds. Amherst's Elise Tropiano was not far behind in 2nd place, posting a time of 20:52.
The Ephs look forward to returning to Williamstown for a week off from running and then towards the start of Indoor Track and Field!
