team tied for seventh with
Tufts University in the NESCAC Championships hosted by Tufts this past Saturday. Williams College won the race, narrowly besting Middlebury College, last year's NCAA Champions.
Bowdoin College finished third followed by Wesleyan University, and Bates and Trinity Colleges. Connecticut, Hamilton and Colby Colleges brought up the rear in the 11-team field.
Saturday's race was windy and cold, making the conditions for running very difficult. The NESCAC Championship race is known for its fierce competition, but the women did well. Carter Hamill '05 placed sixth, earning First-Team All-NESCAC honors.
Caroline Cretti of Williams set the pace with a course record time of 17:35.57. The first five finishers in the race were from either Williams or Middlebury.
Hamill was right behind this Panther/Eph quintet, posting a fabulous time of 18:21. The next Jeff to finish was Erinn White '04, who came in 36th with a time of 19:35. Helen Dole '04 and co-captain Alison Dimon '03 finished 39th and 45th, respectively. Next in the line-up was freshman Jenny Horowitz with a time just over the 20-minute mark, 20:04. Co-captain Hilary Plum '03 and Laura Kilgour finished within a second of each other to place 60th and 62nd in the individual race.
"Overall a good day, yet Williams College once again took away the day with some very high finishes," said Hamill. "We had a good pack finish early/mid in the overall group of runners, showing that we're racing very well as a team."
The race, held at Tufts, was a 5k course and not a 6k, as the women expected. "The conditions, however, made things a bit tougher-it was freezing and the wind was also a factor," said Hamill.
"I felt fine about my race, but would have liked to have placed further up. I sort of corked the first mile, but held in there the last two and had a fairly good finish," Hamill added.
The women look ahead to the ECAC Championship this Saturday, and then the NCAA qualifier on Nov. 16. "As we begin to taper, racing will feel a lot easier and hopefully a lot quicker," said Hamill.