CUMBERLAND, Maine – The Endicott College cross country teams participated in last weekend’s NCAA New England Regional Qualifier held in Cumberland, Maine at the Twin Brooks Recreational Center hosted by the University of Southern Maine. The women’s team finished 32nd of 45 participating schools while the men placed 42nd of 48 teams in the field.

On the women’s side, the Gulls were paced by \#Kim Shepherd\# (Essex, Conn.) who finished 120th out of 315 runners with her time of 24:56. \#Holly Davis\# (Guilford, Conn.) and \#Brittaney Plante\# (Nashua, N.H.) also ran well for Endicott as Davis placed 174th and Plante finished 188th with their respective times of 25:54 and 26:06.

Middlebury College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology tied for the team title. MIT was paced by individual winner Jacqui Wentz (Santa Rosa, Calif.) and third-place finisher Maria Monks (Hazelton, Penn.). Wentz covered the 6,000-meter course in 21:35 while Monks turned in a time of 21:44. Alina Gatowski (Beverly Hills, Mich.) was the third MIT runner across the line in eighth place with a time of 22:05. Katherine Eve (Fremont, Calif.) and Tania Morimoto (Mountain View, Calif.) completed the MIT first five placing 24th and 27th respectively. Williams College rounded out the top three with their 99 points.

For the men, \#Greg Payne\# (North Attleboro, Mass.) led the Gulls with his time of 27:54, good for a 131st place finish out of the 323 racer field. \#Tom Rofrano\# (Sayville, N.Y.) crossed the finish line next for Endicott in 266th place with his time of 31:07. \#Brendan Mitchell\# (Chelmsford, Mass.) and \#Sam Turner\# (Portland, Maine) finished back-to-back in 278th and 279th with matching times of 31:47.

For the second consecutive year, senior William Kosgey (Eldoret River Valley, Kenya) of the Williams College Ephs men’s cross country team crossed the finish line first by covering the 8000-meter race in a time of 25:16. Williams totaled 53 points earning the team championship and an automatic berth into the NCAA National Championship race on Saturday, November 21 hosted by Baldwin-Wallace College in Ohio. The Amherst College Lord Jeffs finished second to the Ephs with a team score of 104 points, earning the New England Regions’ second qualifier. Lord Jeff senior Daniel Murner (Crestwood, Ky.) finished less than a second behind Kosgey in an exciting sprint to the finish. Keene State finished third in the team totals with 132 points. 

                       Release courtesy of the NCAA and the University of Southern Maine