The Wesleyan cross country regular season ended on Saturday, Nov. 10 at the New England Division III Championship hosted by Westfield State. Although neither the men’s nor women’s team qualified for the NCAA Division III Championship, senior and co-captain Julia Mark qualified individually for the women, and seniors Bryan Marsh and Skyler Cummins qualified for the men.
Marsh came in seventh place out of 351 competitors after completing the 8k course in 25:01.41, a mere 10 seconds off the fastest time in the region. His finish was good enough to earn all-New England Division III honors for the third year running. He placed 11th regionally last year to qualify for the NCAA Division III Championship, where he finished in 35th place and received All-American honors.
Cummins also qualified for the NCAA Division III Championship with a time of 25:07.93, good enough for 10th place and for all-New England Division III honors as well. Marsh and Cummins were the third and fifth individual qualifiers, respectively. The men’s cross country team overall improved by three spots from last year’s regional meet, finishing 10th out of the 48 competing teams.
The other scoring men’s runners from Wesleyan were Filmon Tekeste ’15, Austin Cotant ’13, and Sam Roth ’13. It was the last competitive cross country run for seniors Roth and Cotant. Tekeste finished in 69th place with a time of 26:24.70, while Cotant finished 74th and Roth finished in 90th with times of 26:30.03 and 26:51.24 respectively.
On the women’s side, only Mark qualified individually for the NCAA Division III Championship, finishing in 16th place in a field of 367 runners. Mark ran the 6k course in 22:09.22, and her 16th-place finish was a significant improvement from her performance last year, when she finished 42nd.
Overall, the women’s cross country team finished in eighth place out of 51 competing schools, an improvement over last year’s 12th-place finish. Mark was backed up by four other seniors, with Jessica Sherry ’13 finishing second among the Cardinals in a time of 22:45.10, good enough for 47th place. Hannah Zimmerman ’13 finished in 64th with a time of 23:00.22, and Ceili Brennan ’13 placed 98th with a time of 23:35.82. Chloe Lalonde ’13 made sure that the Cardinals all ran inside the top 100 with a time of 23:37.52, good enough to finish in the 100th position.
It was a good regular season for both the men and women, and they will be cheering on their individual runners at the NCAA Division III Championship that is taking place on Saturday, Nov. 17 in Terre Haute, IN.