ATTLEBORO, Mass. — Senior Jaz Vanderhoof (Portland, Maine) placed 16th to earn All-Conference status and lead the Wheaton College (Mass.) women's cross country team at the New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference Championship this afternoon at the Mark Coogan Cross Country Course at a windy Highland Park in Attleboro, Mass. The six-kilometer race was hosted by Wheaton.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology produced five of the top seven individual finishers as well as seven of the top 10 for a total of 24 points. United States Coast Guard Academy senior Claire Semerod (Centennial, Colo.) placed first overall with a time of 21:26.6 to win the race by nearly 12 seconds. She was named the NEWMAC Women's Cross Country Runner of the Year to become the first Bear to earn the honor since Kaitlyn Mooney was tabbed in both 2017 and 2018.
Coast Guard placed second as a team with 66 points, while Wellesley College was third with 112 points. Smith College slotted in at fourth with a total of 141 points and Springfield College was fifth with a tally of 165 points. Wheaton finished sixth with 197 points to edge Babson College's total of 199. Worcester Polytechnic placed eighth with 210 points and Salve Regina University was close behind with 213 points to finish ninth as a team. Mount Holyoke College scored 292 points and Emerson College was a point behind to see the teams place 10th and 11th, respectively. Clark University placed 12th with 307 points.
Vanderhoof crossed the finish line with a time of 23:08.3 for the Lyons and earned All-Conference honors as one of the top 19 finishers in the race. Sophomore Abby Wozniak (Blackstone, Mass.) posted a mark of 23:50.5 to finish 26th. Sophomore Chloe Vescio (Douglas, Mass.) placed 46th with a time of 24:46.9, before senior Abby Martin (Keene, N.H.) crossed at 26:21.3 to finish 84th overall. First years Sophia Woodwock (Warrington, Pa.) and Ellie Gilman (Brunswick, Maine) were within a second of each other with Woodcock shaving a whopping 48 seconds off her personal best with a mark of 26:38.2 to finish 88th and Gilman establishing a personal-record collegiate 6K mark of 26:39.6 to place 89th.
First year Norah McLeod (Arundel, Maine) finished 100th behind a time of 27:12.8 and sophomore Maggie Cizmar (Plymouth, Mass.) placed 108th with a mark of 27:40.7, just four seconds ahead of sophomore Niyati Hotha (South Brunswick, N.J.) at 27:44.2 in 109th place. First year Caeli Wagner (Hingham, Mass.) recorded a time of 29:01.8 to finish 125th and junior Anna Butrimas (Berlin, Conn.) finished in 129th with a clip of 29:24.2. Junior Annabelle Sanders (Miami, Fla.) crossed the finish with a time of 30:44.0 in 135th place, before first year Kaylin Emerson (New Boston, N.H.) closed out the day for Wheaton with a time of 31:34.7 to finish 139th overall.
The Lyons return to action on Saturday, November 15 when they compete at the NCAA East Regional Championship hosted at the Hopkinton Fairgrounds in Hopkinton, N.H.
