Senior Katie Barker took fifth place to lead the Bates women's cross country team to fifth out of 11 teams at the NESCAC Championships on Saturday.
Barker covered the 6-kilometer course at frigid Franklin Park in 22:37.8, 1.9 seconds behind fourth-place Cassie Kearney of Middlebury, in capturing her first career All-NESCAC honor and landing on the First Team (top seven).
"Katie had a great day," said head coach Jay Hartshorn. "She got out well and put herself in position to move up during the race. In the last three-quarters of a mile, she was still closing hard and caught up to fourth place, then gapped the three women she was runing with by about 10 seconds."
The No. 26 nationally ranked Bobcats finished four points behind fourth-place Tufts, 128 to 124, in recording their fourth consecutive top-five finish at the conference championship race. Middlebury (47) won the team title, followed by Williams (73), Wesleyan (84), Tufts (124), Bates (128), Colby (154), Bowdoin (164), Amherst (213), Hamilton (226) and Trinity (226), and Connecticut College (249).
