Women Finish 6th At
Cross Country Regionals;
Await NCAA Bid
The Terrier women's cross-country team, hoping to finish in the top five and
earn a bid to the NCAA Division 1 championships, tied with Columbia for sixth place
at the NCAA Northeast Regional Qualifying Meet on Saturday (November 10th) at
Franklin Park.
Now considered a team on the bubble, the Terriers, who finished with 143
points, hope that their region is so strong that they will receive an
invitation to the meet that will be held at Greenville, SC in a couple of
weeks.
As expected, Boston College
won the meet in convincing form with 53 points. Providence
College, which won the men's event,
finished second to the Eagles in the women's race with 95 points. Brown
finished a surprising third place with 118, followed, in order, by Cornell,
120; Yale, 128; Boston University and Columbia, 143; Dartmouth, 158; Rhode
Island, 282; and Harvard, 337, to finish out the top 10.
While the team might not receive an invitation, the Terriers' scarlet and
white colors should be represented by graduate student Rachel Felton (St.
Alban's, England).
She covered the 6,000-meter course in 21:05.40, which placed her eighth. Boston
College's Megan Quiney won the race
in 20:29.20, or an average of 5:29
per mile. Felton's average was 5:39
per mile.
The four other Terriers whose place factored into the team's final standings
included junior Sherida Bird (Prescott, AZ), senior Katie Ireland (Boston, MA),
senior Jen Kehoe (London, ONT), and
senior Lauren Matthews (Brookline).
Bird finished 23rd in a time of 21:34.00, or an average of 5:47 a mile. Ireland
was 31st in 21:40.00, or 5:48 a
mile. Next was Kehoe in 38th in 21:46.70, or 5:50
a mile. Finally, Matthews was clocked in 21:53.70, or 5:52 a mile, which placed her 43rd.
Two other runners competed for the Terriers. They were senior Emily Hawkins
(Spokane, WA),
who was 76th in 22:34.20, and sophomore Tara Johnson (Philadelphia,
PA), who was 82nd in 22:47.70.