WATERFORD, CONN. – In a race that featured the nation's top five ranked teams, the No. 5 MIT women's cross country team finished in second place in the team standings in the Women's 6k Caroline Grape '22 Memorial Blue Championship Race on Saturday at the Connecticut College Invitational at Harkness Park.
Graduate student Gillian Roeder was MIT's top performer, taking seventh in 21:04.44 in the championship race. Earlier in the day, senior Erin Hovendon was ninth to lead MIT to a fourth-place finish in the Women's 6k White Open Race.
THE BASICS:
- Women's 6k Caroline Grape '22 Memorial Blue Championship Race
- Winning Team Score: Williams, 73 points
- MIT Team Score: 2nd place, 97 points
- Top Finisher: Audrey Maclean, Middlebury (20:17.20)
- Top MIT Finisher: Gillian Roeder, 7th place (21:04.44)
- Women's 6k White Open Race
- Winning Team Score: Williams, 20 points
- MIT Team Score: 4th place, 124 points
- Top Finisher: Estella Laird, Williams (22:02.60)
- Top MIT Finisher: Erin Hovendon, 9th (22:41.10)
HOW IT HAPPENED - Women's 6k Caroline Grape '22 Memorial Blue Championship Race
- Roeder and senior Rujuta Sane each finished in the top ten to lead the Engineers, with Roeder taking seven in 21:04.44. Both Roeder and Sane moved up throughout the race, with Roeder jumping from 19th at the 2.6K mark to her seventh place finish.
- Senior Kate Sanderson added a 15th place finish in 21:14.06 while Liv Girand was 30th for the Engineers in 21:33.73.
- Junior Heather Jensen made a strong move from the 3.2K mark to the finish to earn 37th place for MIT. Jensen was in 55th place just past the midway mark, but moved up nine spots through the 4.8K mark before passing nine more runners on the way to the finish.
- Juniors Jessica Meza and Megan Diulus completed the top-seven for MIT, taking 46th (21:54.97) and 58th (22:07.31), respectively.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Saturday's race featured 16 ranked teams, including the top five teams in the most recent USTFCCCA National Coaches' Poll, in No. 1 NYU, No. 2 Williams, No. 3 Johns Hopkins, No. 4 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, and No. 5 MIT.
- Audrey Maclean (Middlebury) repeated as champion and posted the second-fastest meet time ever; she is the first repeat women's champion since 2017 and 2018.
- The field was fast in today's women's championship race. Prior to this year, only five runners had broken 21:00 in the history of the women's 6K race; the top four did so today.
- The field featured 261 runners and eleven other ranked teams, including NEWMAC rival and No. 27 Coast Guard.
HOW IT HAPPENED - Women's 6k White Open Race
- Hovendon set the pace for a pack of five MIT runners in the open race, with the senior finishing in 9th in 22:41.10.
- First year Sofie Howard was 13th in 22:53.10 and sophomore Kate Friedman finished 14th in 22:55.50.
- Sophomore Sarah Hopp and first year Katherine Pagorek completed MIT's team score, with Hopp finishing in 44th in 23:30.90 and Pagorek taking 50th in 23:36.10.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- The women's open race featured 99 total runners, with 33 schools earning a team score.
- MIT finished one point back of third place Middlebury (123), with Middlebury seeing all five scoring runners finish between 20th and 28th place
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