MIDDLEBURY — Running on its home course on Saturday, the Middlebury College women’s cross-country team, ranked No. 3 in NCAA Division III, edged No. 7 Williams for the NESCAC championship, 38-47.
The league title was the 13th for the Panther women, and Saturday marked the first time the team hosted the NESCAC championship meet since 2003.
The Panther men, ranked No. 9, took third place with 80 points behind No. 3 Williams (39) and No. 7 Colby (76).
Panther Alison Maxwell grabbed the individual title with a time of 22:16.8 over the 6-kilometer course to become Middlebury’s first women’s individual champion since Jessica Johnston in 1999 and 2000. Maxwell, a senior, ran at a 4:29-per-mile pace and finished just over 16 seconds faster than classmate Summer Spillane’s runner-up time of 22:33.
The other Middlebury scorers were Adrian Walsh (sixth in 22:45.1), Katie Carlson (10th in 22:54.3) and Olivia Artaiz (19th in 23:22.6).
Though not scoring, Addis Fouche-Channer was just seconds behind Artaiz in 22nd (23:28.1), while Emma DeCamp (27th, 23:39.8) and Sarah Guth (29th, 23:49.5) also secured top-30 finishes.
In the men’s competition, senior Kevin Wood led the Panthers over the 8K course with a fifth-place finish of 25:22.4. Coming in eight seconds behind Wood was classmate Wilder Schaaf in ninth (25:30.2), while junior Sebastian Matt was 19th (25:57.7). Sam Klockenkemper was 22nd in 26:03.4, while Jacob Fox rounded out the Middlebury scorers in 25th (26:07.6).