No. 5 Women's Cross Country Places Third at Purple Valley Classic

THE BASICS:

- Location: Williamstown, Mass.

- The Lead: At the season-opening Purple Valley Classic, the No. 5 ranked MIT women's cross country team finished third out of 14 teams on Saturday afternoon with a total of 72 points. The Engineers competed against three top-10 teams with Williams (No. 4), Tufts (No. 8) and RPI (No. 10). Tufts won the meet with 60 points, followed by Williams at 68 points.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

- First-year Kirsi Rajagopal (Harrison, N.Y.) was fourth overall and first for MIT in a time of 23:26.5. Junior Katie Collins (Newton, Mass.) crossed in 12th in 23:42.3, followed by senior Megan McCandless (Livermore, Calif.) in 15th at 23:50.9.

- Senior Katie Bacher (Macungie, Pa.) was 18th in 23:57.6, along with sophomore Einat Gavish (Newton, Mass.) in 23rd place with a time of 24:09 to round out the scoring runners. MIT had a 42-second spread between its top five runners.

- Junior Katie Williams (Papillion, Neb.) finished 33rd with a time of 24:31.1, while sophomore Alana Chandler (Chicago, Ill.) placed 36th as she crossed in 24:33.7 to cap off the top seven.

UP NEXT:

- MIT returns to action on Saturday, October 5th as the Engineers travel to Louisville, Ky. for the Greater Louisville Classic. The course at Tom Sawyer Park will host the NCAA Division III National Championship on November 23rd.

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