Ephs take seventh at Division I New Englands
Brett Scofield '10
Boston, MA—The Ephs headed east to Boston’s Franklin Park on Saturday for the Division I New England Cross Country Championship, where the Varsity women finished 7th out of 49 teams with 242 points. Brown University and Boston College battled it out for first and second with 130 and 170 points, respectively, followed by Dartmouth (201), MIT (217), UNH (225) and Quinnipiac (236). The Williams women harriers cruised across the quick 5k course and among Division III competition were outrun only by fourth-place MIT. The beautiful weather was ideal for running and topped off an exciting day of racing for the Williams women.
First year Jennifer Gossels continued to impress, finishing first for the Ephs in 18:35, good for 26th place overall. The Williams women stayed close together, with only 22 seconds between Gossels and Ariel Williams ’10 (18:57), who finished fourth for the Ephs. Co-captain Bret Scofield ’10 came in second for the team (18:45), working with Gossels for much of the race to pull out another top-50 finish overall.
Lauren Goldstein-Kral ’12, Williams’ own national-caliber triathlete, finished third for the Ephs in 18:55, just two seconds ahead of Williams. Elly Teitsworth ’10 (19:00) rounded out the scoring for the Ephs.
Assistant Coach Kathleen Newton said, “Both the varsity and sub-varsity women executed the start of the race very well, putting themselves in strong position to be aggressive and move up throughout the race.” She added, “During the race our packs ran nicely together and a number of women had very strong kicks over the final 400m.”
In the sub-varsity race, the Eph women finished third, behind Brown and Boston College, beating out all Division III competition. In that race, another freshman harrier showed her speed—Celeste Berg ’13 finished first for the Ephs and 10th overall, running 19:09. Three more Ephs broke the 20-minute mark, with Olivia Delia ’12, Natalie Davis ’12 and Elleree Erdos ’12 running 19:15, 19:21 and 19:52 respectively.
Head Coach Pete Farwell said, “The end result was good packs, strong results and high team placings.”
The team returns to home turf next weekend for the Plansky Invitational, where many alumni will join current Ephs. The women will run either a 5k or a 6k distance.
