NEW ORLEANS -- All-Region honors for the 2023 NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field season were announced on Tuesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, with three Bates women's track and field athletes making the list. 

Top-5 individuals in each event from each region earned All-Region honors, in addition to each of the members of a top-3 ranked relay team.

Senior captain Jillian Richardson (Auburn, Maine) led the way for Bates, earning All-Region honors in the 3,000 meters and the 5,000 meters. Richardson won the New England title in the 3K with a personal record time of 9:44.68. The mark is the 12th fastest in the country this season, and is the third fastest 3K time ever recorded by a Bobcat. Richardson will represent Bates in the 3K this Saturday at the NCAA Championships. Meanwhile, her personal record 5K time of 17:33.24 was achieved at Middlebury's New England Small College Invitational in January, the fifth fastest indoor 5K in Bates history. 

Fellow senior captain Abbey Otterbein (Beverly, Mass.) earned All-Region honors in the pentathlon with her personal record score of 3,070 points, recorded in January at the Bates Invitational. It's the fourth best pentathlon performance in Bates history. 

First-year Moriah Scharn (Dunstable, Mass.) burst onto the scene this year in a big way for Bates in the 60-meter hurdles, taking third at the New England Division III Indoor Championships with her personal record time of 8.97 seconds, the third fastest mark in Bates history.

After Richardson competes at NCAAs this Saturday, the Bates women's track and field team will shift its attention to the outdoor season, which begins on Saturday, April 1 when the Bobcats host the Bates College Quad Meet.