WELLESLEY, Mass. — The Wellesley College cross country team won its home invitational in style, recording the top-11 finishes as the Blue topped Simmons in the Saturday meet. The event was held on the Wellesley's 5k lake course.
The Blue recorded a perfect score of 15 to defeat the runner-up Sharks, who recorded 50 team points. All of Wellesley's runners finished in the top-20 of the 37-runner field.
Individually, Wellesley swept the top 11 spots, with five runners finishing with sub-20 times. Sophomore Mary Keenan, junior Priyanka Fouda, and senior Taylor Bickford ran a tight pack, crossing the finish line 1-2-3. Keenan ran a winning time of 19:30.1, followed by Fouda with a 19:32.9 and Bickford with a 19:34.8.
Also finishing in under 20 minutes were sophomore Sara Vannah and senior Nicole Chui. Vannah ran a 19:55.4 to rank fourth overall, while Chui was fifth with a time of 19:58.5.
Rounding out the top-ten finishers for the Blue were first-year Taylor Fortnam, sophomores Edie Sharon and Alice Zhou, and juniors Sharon Ng and Alessandra Gavin. Fortnam was sixth in 20:04.2, followed by Sharon in 20:06.9, and Zhou in 20:09.5. Ng ranked ninth overall with a 20:16.3, while Gavin was 10th in 20:26.7.
Wellesley first-year Isabella King, sophomore Sonja Cwik, first-year Clare Salerno, and junior Heather Smith each finished in the top-15 at the event. King ran a 20:39.2, Cwik a 21:18.9, Salerno finished in 21:30.3, and Smith clocked in a 21:32.2. First-year Lili Considine (18th- 21:54.8) and junior Mariana Breña (20th- 23:36.7) wrapped up the top-20 finishers for the Blue.
Simmons was paced by junior Kara MacLean who was 12th overall in 20:50.8. She was followed by sophomore Sara Harland (21:49.5) in 16th and sophomore Mia DeLuccia (21:51.8) in 17th. Rounding out the scoring for the Sharks were sophomore Bethanie Royality-Lin (19th - 22:19.9) and junior Tiffany Lo (21st - 23:44.2).
Following the meet, Wellesley held a special celebration of the three members of the Class of 2015. Seniors Taylor Bickford, Nicole Chui, and Alexandra Dunn were honored.
The Wellesley cross country team will return to action on Saturday competing at the Williams Purple Valley Classic. The event will take place at Mount Greylock High School in Williamstown, Mass.
