Bates College

Bates senior Katherine Cook earned her first career All-America honor Saturday, finishing 16th among 279 individuals overall at the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships.

Cook (South Burlington, Vt.) covered the 6-kilometer course at Principia College's North Farm Course in 21:07.4, right behind 15th-place finisher Paige Lawler from Washington University and 28.2 seconds behind overall champion Khia Kurtenbach of Chicago. She was fourth among runners from the New England Region, just as she finished fourth at NCAA Regionals a week ago.

The team captain's top-40 placement makes her the program's fifth All-American and the first since Kathryn Moore '07 in 2006.

While Bates was not invited to the meet as a team in spite of its outstanding credentials, Cook finished off one of the best individual seasons in program history in style. Earlier this season Cook won the Maine state championship, finished fourth at the NESCAC Championships to earn First Team All-NESCAC honors; and finished fourth at New England Regionals to win her second career cross country All-New England award.

Cook joins Moore, Adelia Myrick '99, Kristy Gould '93 and Rebecca Watt '85 in the ranks of Bates women's cross country All-Americans.