Senior captain Elena Jay was the Bates women's cross country team's leading runner on Saturday at the NESCAC Championships at Middlebury, as the Bobcats placed sixth out of 11 teams.
Jay (West Hartford, Conn.) finished 29th among 121 individuals, leading the Bobcats to their third straight top-six team finish at the highly competitive meet. She covered Middlebury's 6-kilometer women's course in 23:55.7, 1.4 seconds ahead of sophomore teammate Jessica Wilson (Cumberland, Maine), who came in 30th.
The Bobcats displayed impressive depth and pack-running in the race: senior Erica Gagnon (Weymouth, Mass.), sophomore Molly Chisholm (Wayland, Mass.) and first-year Katherine Cook (South Burlington, Vt.) were 38th, 39th and 44th, respectively, in 24:16.2, 24:16.8 and 24:23.5 to round out Bates' top five.
It was second straight meet in which Jay has led the Bobcats, tying Wilson with her second team-leading performance of the season. Two weeks ago she earned All-State honors by placing third overall at the Maine State Meet in Farmington.
Jay will next run at the New England Division III Championships on Nov. 15 in Williamstown, Mass., where she will vie for a third career All-New England honor, which goes ot the top 35 individuals at the NCAA regional championship.
