On a perfect Saturday for distance running, the men’s and women’s cross country teams ended an exciting season at the New England Division III Championship hosted by Bowdoin. The New England Championship features teams from across the region, with schools such as MIT, Keene State, and Brandeis competing. This is an important race because it determines which teams and individual qualifiers will go on to the NCAA Division III Championship in Winneconne, Wisc. next weekend. The Wes men and women were able to hold their own against a strong field that included the top ten nationally-ranked teams. The men’s team placed 10th out of 48 squads, while the women’s team placed 12th out of 51. Williams won the men’s side, and Middlebury captured the win for the women.

The men’s team was led by Bryan Marsh ’13 who finished the 8K course with a time of 25:05.95. Marsh, who made it to nationals last year as a sophomore, was just 26 seconds off the winning pace of Middlebury’s Michael Schmidt and will be returning to Winneconne this Saturday to represent the Cardinals. Last year, he placed 106th nationally. This top time is a quite a feat for Marsh, who has been fighting injuries throughout the season. Skyler Cummins ’13 came through with a solid 16th-place effort with a time of 25:10.09. Cummins has been the number-one or -two runner on the men’s team this entire season. Rounding out the team’s scoring five were Austin Cotant ’13 (48th), Sam Roth ’13 (79th) and Mac Schneider ’12 (82nd).

The women’s side also finished the season with a solid effort. Julia Mark ’13 paced the squad with her 42nd-place finish among 353 entrants, with a time of 22:36.80. This is quite an improvement for Mark, who last year finished 50th with a time of 23:54. Next for the women was Libby Lazare ’14, who finished 50th (22:50.06). Finishing out the team’s scoring five were Tess Crain ’12 (62nd) with a time of 23:08, Nellie Triedman ’13 (80th) with a time of 23:26, and Ceili Brennan ’13 (94th) with a time of 23:48.