Bates women finish ninth out of 47 teams at New Englands
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| Abby Samuelson ’10 (front) and Esther Kendall ’10 negotiate the oceanfront course at Harkness State Park in Connecticut. (Tom Leonard photo) |
WATERFORD, Conn. — The Bates College women’s cross country team placed ninth out of 47 scoring teams Saturday at the NCAA Division III New England Regional Championships, hosted by Connecticut College at Harkness State Park.
The Bobcats entered the meet ranked 10th in New England but were able to edge Keene State, 296 points to 301, for ninth place, despite the Owls boasting the individual race champion in senior Jennifer Adams. Wesleyan edged Bates by the slimmest of margins, a single point, for eighth place.
As has been the team’s theme all season, Bates’ success was based on depth, with the Bobcats’ top five finishers packed from 47th to 76th place out of 344 runners overall.
Bates’ top finisher, sophomore Esther Kendall (Ridgeway, Ontario), finished the 6-kilometer course in 23:00.1. She was followed closely behind by first-year Jennifer Mitton (Reisterstown, Md.) in 51st at 23:04.1, sophomore Abby Samuelson (Freeport, Maine) in 58th at 23:08.7, senior Aviva Goldstein (Manchester, N.H.) in 65th at 23:15.8 and sophomore Morgan Maciewicz (Marblehead, Mass.) in 76th at 23:27.6. Goldstein’s and Maciewicz’s times were better than the fourth- and fifth-place runners from all but the top five teams in the race.
Senior Molly Balentine (Hampden, Maine) finished 95th overall in 23:38.5 and junior Allie Goldstein (Needham, Mass.) was 101st in 23:44.9.
“Our goal was to get in the top 10. Everybody got out well, and competed well,” said head coach Jennifer “Jay” Hartshorn, noting that every Bates runner notched a personal-record time on a 6K course.