Women Finish 16th
At NCAA Meet

All season long, Terrier women's cross country coach Bruce Lehane said this year's team had the potential to be the best team he's ever had. On Monday (November 19th), they proved it as the team finished 16th at NCAA Division 1 Championships that were hosted by Furman University.

This was just the second time the B.U. women had qualified for the NCAAs, the last time being two years ago. That year, they finished 18th.

Leading the way over the 6-kilometer course was graduate student Rachel Felton (St. Albans, England), who finished 42nd overall but 34th in the team scoring. She was clocked in 21:33.

The reason for the adjusted placement is there were runners who competed individually, as their teams were not invited. Thus, their times and places had to be pulled out for the team racing. So, while Felton finished 42nd overall, her time placed her 34th among the teams that were entered.

Senior Jen Kehoe (London, Ontario) was the next Terrier to cross the finish line, as she was 101st overall but placed 77th in the team scoring.

Then, in order, came senior Katie Ireland (Boston), who was 109th overall and 84th in team scoring; junior Sherida Bird (Prescott, AZ), who was 148th overall and 116th in team scoring; and junior Bolpar Vinh (Kingston, Ontario), who was 175th overall and 143rd in the team scoring.

Two other Terriers competed but their scoring did not factor in the team total as only the top five finishers are counted in the final totals. The two were seniors Lauren Matthews (Brookline) and Emily Hawkins (Spokane, WA).

Kehoe was timed in 22:10, Ireland in 22:14, Bird in 22:32, and Vinh in 22:51. Matthews' time was 22:55 and Hawkins was clocked in 24:11.
"I was very pleased with how we did today," Lehane said after the race. "Two hundred and 50 of the nation's top collegiate cross country runners were here, and that makes for an extremely tough race."

In singling out each of the Terrier competitors, Lehane said

"Rachel ran a very effective race," the coach said of Felton, who won the America East individual title and then finished eighth at the NCAA Northeast Qualifying Meet.

"Jen ran her best race of the year, and her performance was a key to our finish as a team," Lehane said of Kehoe. "Katie ran another good race. Sherida ran out a little fast, but she finished well, and Bolpar did a nice job considering it was her first race in awhile."

Vinh had to sit out both the America East and Northeast Qualifying Meets as a result of ankle injuries.

"Our runners hung tough and ran with a lot of heart," concluded Lehane. "They did very well given the context of how tough this field was. We ran a nice strong race and put on an excellent performance."

As a team, the Terriers finished with 454 points, just 17 points behind Marquette. Among the notable teams that B.U. beat was perennial women's cross country power Arkansas, which finished in 17th place with 460 points.

Among the teams from the Northeast region, B.U. finished in fourth place behind Boston College, Providence, and Yale. BC finished sixth overall with 232 points. Providence was 10th with 337 points, and Yale was 13th with 423 points.

The teams from this region that trailed the Terriers were Columbia, 22nd; Villanova, 24th; Brown, 27th; Dartmouth, 29th; and Cornell, 30th.