HADLEY, Mass. -- Bates junior Jillian Richardson was named the first NESCAC Women's Cross Country Performer of the Week for the 2021 season, announced Monday by the New England Small College Athletic Conference.

Richardson (Auburn, Maine), Bates' top runner as a first-year in 2019, continued that trend two years later in leading the No. 31 nationally ranked Bobcats to an impressive victory over rivals Bowdoin and Colby at the CBB Class Wave Races on Saturday in Waterville.

The Bobcats took seven of the top 11 places in the senior/junior race, including juniors Richardson (Auburn, Maine), Jordan Wilson (Medfield, Mass.) and Beth Annese (Needham, Mass.) in first, second and fourth, places, respectively. Richardson, a 2019 All-NESCAC selection, covered the 3.97-kilometer course in 14:47, the fastest time of the day.

Bates will host No. 5 Tufts and Connecticut College this Saturday for the Bates Invitational at Pineland Farms in New Gloucester, Maine.