BOSTON -- The No. 16 nationally ranked Bates women's cross country team took a big step toward making its third straight NCAA Division III Championship appearance on Saturday, as the Bobcats placed third out of 30 teams in the first-ever NCAA East Regional Championships, held at Franklin Park.
Bates scored 87 points, trailing only No. 14 Tufts (59) and No. 11 MIT (65) out of 30 teams in the race. No. 26 Brandeis placed fourth (89) and No. 24 Wellesley (93) rounded out the top five teams.
NCAA Division III restructured its regions this season, creating a new East Region comprising schools in Eastern New England. The first-place team in each of 10 NCAA Regionals held on Saturday earned an automatic berth in next Saturday's NCAA Division III Championships. Twenty-two more teams will be selected to fill the 32-team field, which will be announced no later than 3pm Eastern Time on Sunday; Bates is seeking its seventh team bid to nationals ever.
Junior
Jillian Richardson (Auburn, Maine) placed fourth among 221 individuals to lead six Bobcats who earned NCAA All-East Region honors for a top-35 individual finish. Richardson led the Bobcats for the sixth time in as many races this season, covering the 6-kilometer course in 22:34.3.
Senior captain
Tara Ellard (Brewster, Mass.) placed 10th overall in 23:18.4, and was followed by first-year
Olivia Reynolds (Cumberland, Maine) in 16th place (23:40.2), junior
Ilana Zeilinger (Washington, D.C.) in 25th place (24:08.2), and senior
Carly Harris (Orinda, Calif.) in 32nd place to round out Bates' team scoring.Â
Sophomore
Jen Coseno (Sutton, Mass.) was Bates' first displacer in 35th place overall (24:20.9), giving Bates six All-Region performers for their top-35 finishes. Junior
Jordan Wilson (Medfield, Mass.) was Bates' second displacer in 44th place (24:44.5).
The top 20 individuals also earn All-New England honors, as do 20 other individuals competing in the newly formed NCAA Mideast Regional on Saturday. That gave Richardson, Ellard and Reynolds two awards on the day as All-New England and All-East. Richardson finished 15th at NCAA New England Regionals as a first-year in 2019.
