WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Southern Vermont College women's cross country team ran hard at Saturday's Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III Championship, participating in its first 6,000 meter race of the year at a meet hosted by Williams College at Mount Greylock Regional High School.
While the Mountaineers had been to Mount Greylock already twice this season, they ran a tougher 6k that was comprised of challenging hills and 311 finishers from all over the ECAC's membership. Three SVC runners competed in their first collegiate 6k to set personal records, two of whom did well enough to land on Southern Vermont's all-time record list for the distance. Saturday marked the first time in program history that SVC scored as a team at the ECAC meet with at least five runners finishing the race.
Bennington College sophomore Annika Kristiansen (Keene, N.H.) finished first for the Mountaineers for the second time this season, coming through with a mark of 25:32; that was good enough to be the fifth-best time for a Southern Vermont runner on a 6k course. She was followed by SVC junior captain Shelby Whitman (Bennington, Vt.) who pushed hard for a 26:13 showing.
Southern Vermont junior Schyler McGuire (Mechanicville, N.Y.) was third for the team at 27:48 while Bennington sophomore Isabella Poulos (Milwaukee, Wis.) came in next at 29:13; Poulos' time puts her at 10th on the all-time SVC 6k record list.
Mountaineer senior Emily Freling (Schenevus, N.Y.) rounded out Southern Vermont's top five scorers with a 30:12 mark while sophomore teammate Emily Lesure (Cheshire, Mass.), who was competing in her first-ever 6k race, was right behind at 30:17.
SVC now prepares for the NCAA Division III Regional Qualifier set to take place next Saturday, November 14 at Harkness Memorial State Park in Waterford, Conn. The 6k will see its top 35 finishers move on to compete at the NCAA DIII National Championship to be held the following weekend in Wisconsin.
Southern Vermont
86th – Annika Kristiansen: 25:32 (PR)
124th – Shelby Whitman: 26:13
182nd – Schyler McGuire: 27:48
237th – Isabella Poulos: 29:13 (PR)
263rd – Emily Freling: 30:12
266th – Emily Lesure: 30:17 (PR)