Williams Wins NCAA Women's Cross Country Championship

Trinity's Bak Claims Individual Title

NORTHFIELD, Minn. - Williams College women's cross country defeated two-time defending champion Middlebury to capture the NCAA Division III Women's Cross Country Championship with 42 points. The Panthers placed second with 145 points, followed by Wartburg, Washington (Mo.) and Calvin.

The Ephs were paced by a pair of freshman, Caroline Cretti and Michelle Rorke who placed third and fourth respectively among team competitors. Williams sophomore Jennifer Campbell place fifth and senior Julia Bensen finished seventh, 11th overall.

Amherst sophomore Carter Hamill, who finished 10th, was the highest individual qualifier from the NESCAC. The Trinity women finished 13th in the team competition, Bowdoin 14th and Wesleyan 23rd.

Trinity College men’s cross country senior co-captain Ryan Bak won the 8,000-meter race with a course-record time of 25:01 to capture NCAA Division III National Men’s Cross Championship title at St. Olaf College. Bak broke the course record at St. Olaf by 20 seconds and finished ahead of the second place runner by seven full seconds to capture the title and earn All-American honors for the second straight season. He pulled ahead of the pack at the two-mile mark and maintained a 70-yard lead in front of second-place Ryan Kleimenhagen, of Wisc.-Platteville, for the remainder of the race.

Bates senior Justin Easter finished third in the event, 19 seconds behind Bak. Nate Brigham, a sophomore at Tufts University, finished 11th followed by seniors Jim Emord of Trinity and Karl Remsen of Williams who placed 13th and 14th respectively. Williams' seventh place finish was the highest amongst NESCAC squads. Bowdoin placed eighth and Connecticut College was 20th.