New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference

MIT Women Earn 8th-Straight NEWMAC Cross Country Championship

11/1/2014 12:00:00 AM

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. – MIT finished with five runners in the top-14 of Saturday's New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Women's Cross Country Championship to earn the program's eighth-straight league title.

The conference's annual cross country championship was hosted by Smith College in Northampton, Mass.

The Engineers and eighth-year head coach Halston Taylor recorded a perfect score of 15 points to claim this year's conference championship. MIT recorded just the second perfect score ever at the conference championship meet, doing so in 2012 as well. Wellesley College was second (77 pts.), Wheaton (Mass.) College third (120), WPI fourth (128), Mount Holyoke College fifth (130), Smith College sixth (146), Springfield College seventh (154), Coast Guard eighth (186), Babson College ninth (245), Clark University 10th (284) and Emerson College 11th (329).

MIT sophomore Sarah Quinn (Watchung, N.J./Gill St. Bernard's School) earned the event's individual title and 2014 NEWMAC Women's Cross Country Runner of the Year honors after posting a winning time of 18:22.

WPI first-year Emily Newman (Easton, MA / Oliver Ames) was named NEWMAC Rookie of the Year after finishing in 17th place with a time of 19:18.

MIT sophomore Christina Wicker (Oak Harbor, Wash./Oak Harbor) finished second with a time of 18:25, followed by MIT senior, and 2013 NEWMAC Runner of the Year, Elaine McVay (San Ramon, Calif./California High School) in third (18:31). MIT sophomore Maryann Gong (Livermore, Calif./Granada) was fourth (18:37) and her teammate, Nicole Zeinstra (Holland, Mich./Black River) made it a clean sweep for the Engineers by finishing fifth (18:41).

Wheaton (Mass.) junior Jordan Silva took sixth (North Kingstown, R.I./North Kingstown) (18:45), while Wellesley junior Priyanka Fouda (Wellesley Hills, Mass./Wellesley) followed in seventh (18:52). Springfield senior Gabriella Gaudreault (Leominster, Mass./Leominster) was eighth (18:54), Mount Holyoke sophomore Rebecca Rogers (Tucson, Ariz./St. Gregory College Prepatory School) (18:56) took ninth, while Wellesley senior Taylor Bickford (Limington, ME/Bonny Eagle) rounded out the top-10 with a finish of 19:00.

Wheaton (Mass.) senior Sonrisa O'Toole (Great Barrington, Mass./Monument Mountain Regional) was just one second behind Bickford (19:01) in 11th place, while Babson senior Marina Capalbo (Gainesville, Va. / Battlefield) took 12th (19:01). Smith junior Danielle Opatovsky (Shoreham, N.Y. / Shoreham-Wading) (19:05) and WPI junior Julie Tevenan (Weymouth, Mass./Weymouth) (19:07) closed out the top-14.

The top-14 finishers in Saturday's five-kilometer championship race receive All-NEWMAC recognition.

NEWMAC schools will next participate in the 2014 NCAA® Cross Country New England Regional on Saturday, Nov 15. The New England Regional will be held at Mount Greylock High School in Williamstown, Mass.

The 2014 NCAA® Championship is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 22 at the Golf Center at Kings Island in Mason, Ohio. The national championship is being hosted by Wilmington College and the Warren County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Courtesy of the Smith College Sports Information Department