WATERFORD, Conn. – The No. 16 Connecticut College women's cross country team finished eighth out of 33 teams at the Connecticut College Invitational on Saturday afternoon at Harkness Memorial State Park.
One of the premiere cross country events in the country, the field for the women's championship race featured 16 nationally-ranked teams, including the top-5 schools in the latest USTFCCCA poll. The level of competition—combined with ideal weather conditions—resulted in fast times across the board.
Middlebury's Audrey Maclean broke the tape in 20:17.2 to repeat as the women's champion. She shaved 27 seconds off her winning time from a year ago, becoming the first repeat champion at the event since 2018. Her time was also the second-fastest in the history of the event.
Maclean was one of four runners who broke the 21-minute mark on the day. Washington & Lee's Olivia Warr finished runner-up in 20:40.0 while NYU's Josephine Dziedzic (20:43.8) and Johns Hopkins' Carter Brotherton (20:57.8) also accomplished the feat. Prior to the race, only five other runners had eclipsed the mark in the history of the event.
No. 2 Williams took home the team title with a score of 73 points, placing five runners in the top-22. No. 5 MIT finished runner-up with 97 points while No. 3 Johns Hopkins (113), No. 4 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (158) and No. 1 NYU (179) rounded out the top-5. Conn (230) finished ahead of eight ranked teams, including No. 11 SUNY Geneseo, No. 12 Amherst and No. 14 Washington & Lee.
The Camels got a stellar run from
Grace McDonough (Londonderry, N.H.), who broke her own school record for the fastest 6K time in Conn's history. She crossed the finish in eighth place with a time of 21:04.7, besting her previous mark by eight seconds. It also went down as the fastest time by a Conn College runner at the Harkness Park course, besting the previous record by 36 seconds.
Kiera Tallas (Fountain Valley, Calif.) and
Abby Williams (Waterville, Maine) were the next to cross the finish line for the Camels. Tallas finished 20th overall and posted a time of 21:22.5 while Williams took 47th in 21:55.3.
Alsacia Timmerman (Morrisville, Vt.) and
Alexa Estes (Virginia Beach, Va.) rounded out the scoring and finished 70th (22:23.1) and 98th (22:41.0), respectively, while
Abby Fernald (Avon, Conn.) and
April Schilling (Amherst, Mass.) filled out Conn's top-7.
Conn will next host the NESCAC Championship on Saturday, November 1 at Harkness Park.
