Senior captain Anne Peterson of UR’s Women’s Cross Country (URWXC) earned an individual spot in the national championships in Louisville, Kentucky after racking up all-region honors at the NCAA Division III Atlantic Region Cross Country Championships this weekend in Glassboro, N.J.
She finished first for UR in Glassboro, ending in 10th place overall.
Next came University senior captain Sam Kitchen, who also earned all-region honors by placing 19th. Following Kitchen and Peterson were sophomore Rachel Bargabos and senior Audrey McCarthy, who finished 38th and 39th, respectively.
Junior Ayumi Yuasa rounded out UR’s top five runners in the championship.
With these performances, the UR Women’s team finished seventh as a team in the meet out of 43 teams, against a very competitive field consisting of six teams ranked in the top 30 nationally.
The Yellowjackets were not awarded an at-large bid to the national meet, making this the conclusion of the season for all but Peterson. She will be competing in the national championship on Saturday.
“Our team had a really really great season,” Kitchen said. “We’re a pretty young team that has a lot of potential but also a lot to learn. We built a lot off of last season, and continue to build a really strong women’s cross country program here at UR. Every woman that ran today should be extremely proud; I could not be more proud of my teammates.”
Following the conclusion of the women’s race, UR Men’s XC lined up to race the course. The team finished 19th in the 44-team field thanks to strong performances from underclassmen.
Leading the team was freshman Ivan Frantz, finishing 66th overall, with sophomore Ben Martell trailing closely behind in 69th. Trailing Frantz and Martell was sophomore Hunter Phinney, who finished in 97th place.
Following the three underclassmen were seniors Matt Prohaska and Eric Franklin, rounding out the top five.
Overall, this was a very respectable performance from a team plagued with misfortune and injury throughout the season.
“I thought it was a very solid season,” Martell said. “We put in a lot of work over the summer and in the season, our team is deeper than every [other], and we’ve made some of the strongest connections of our lives. We’re on a positive trend and I think we will continue to grow and reap the benefits of our hard work.”
