BRUNSWICK, Maine — After strong performances at Saturday’s NCAA Division III cross-country regional at Bowdoin College both the Middlebury women’s and men’s teams earned the right to compete at this coming Saturday’s NCAA championship meet hosted by University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in Winneconne, Wisc.
The fifth-ranked Middlebury women’s team finished second among 57 teams this past Saturday, while the 13th-ranked Panther men were third among 58 squads. The Panther women’s team received an automatic NCAA bid, while the men were awarded an at-large bid.
MIT won the women’s title with 87 points. The Panthers scored 108 points, and Williams took third with 115 points.
Panther Rory Kelly placed fifth in 21:37.61 to lead the team. Finishing in eighth place out of 399 competitors was Cassie Kearney, who covered the 6-kilometer course in 22:09.79. Abigail Nadler finished in 28th place (22:42.81), followed by Katherine Glew in 31st (22:45.23) and Claire Gomba in 36th (22:49.51).
Coast Guard’s Kaitlyn Mooney claimed the individual title with a winning time of 20:43.74.
Ninth-ranked Amherst won the men’s crown with 65 points, followed by 12th-ranked Williams (86) and the Panthers (142).
Jonathan Perlman led the Panther men by taking 10th in 25:18.86, and Henry Fleming was 14th on the 8K course in 25:27.97. The other Panther scorers were Theo Henderson, 21st in 25:43.31; Harrison Knowlton, 36th in 26:02.78; and Miles Meijer, 61st in 26:22.24.
Plymouth State’s Sam Brunette won with a time of 24:55.97.