Jillian Richardson became the first Bobcat since 1992 (Kristy Gould ’93) to win an individual regional championship as the senior speedster dominated the field with a time of 21:41.1 in Saturday’s NCAA Division III East Region Cross Country Championships.
Richardson (Auburn, Maine), who placed third overall in the NESCAC Championships two weeks ago, averaged a 5:48.09 mile over the 6K course, which took place on the campus of Bowdoin College.
All seven participating Bobcats earned All-Region honors for a top-35 finish, as #16 Bates placed second overall as a team.
Senior Frieda Kickliter (Mobile, Ala.), joined Richardson on the All-Region squad with a seventh-place finish of 22:43.0. First year Elizabeth Holcombe (Ilchester, Md.), the NESCAC Women’s Cross Country Rookie of the Year, finished 14th with an all-region mark of 22:59.0. Sophomore Phoebe Pohl (Wayland, Mass.) took 19th at 23:06.08.
Senior Ilana Zeilinger (Washington, D.C.) (23rd, 23:13.3), senior Jordan Wilson (Medfield, Mass.) (30th, 23:20.8), and junior Jen Coseno (Sutton, Mass.) (23:21.5) closed out Bates’ stellar Saturday showing.
The Bobcats scored 64 points on the day. No. 7 MIT, with 36 points, took first place and the automatic NCAA bid. Brandeis placed third (142) while No. 28 Tufts (145) and host-Bowdoin (172) closed out the top-5.
NCAA Division III restructured its regions last season, creating a new East Region comprising schools in Eastern New England. The first-place team in each of 10 NCAA Regionals held on Saturday earned an automatic berth in next Saturday’s NCAA Division III Championships. The 32-team field will be announced Sunday afternoon as Bates seeks its 11th team bid to nationals and its fourth in a row.
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