AUBURN, Maine -- The No. 16 nationally ranked Bates women's cross country team rolled to victory Sunday at the Bates Invitational, held at Roy's Disc Golf. 

The Bobcats tallied 35 points, good for first out of six teams, and 21 points ahead of runner-up Tufts. Bates had four runners place in the top 10. Sophomore Elizabeth Holcombe (San Francisco), last year's NESCAC Rookie of the Year, picked up where she left off, placing second out of 87 runners in the 5K race with a time of 19:07.6. Junior Phoebe Pohl (Wayland, Mass.) was close behind, taking fourth place in 19:24.4.

Senior captain Isabel May (Erving, Mass.) and senior Chrissy Aman (Hanover, N.H.) also impressed, with May finishing eighth with a time of 19:34.5 and Aman crossing the finish line in nearly the same time, completing the course in 19:35.6, good for ninth place.

Of the top 20 runners Sunday, nine were Bobcats. Senior captain Kahryn Cullenberg (Farmington, Maine) came in 12th in 19:50.2 and four Bobcats ran as a pack and finished 17th through 20th. Senior Rebecca Anderson (Boone, N.C.) and sophomore Audrey Cole (Minneapolis, Minn.) rounded out the scoring for Bates in 17th and 18th place respectively, with Anderson crossing the line in 20:09.7 and Cole finishing in 20:10.8.

Although they didn't contribute to the team scoring, first-year Leah White (Ann Arbor, Mich.) and junior captain Sophie Demeritt (Acton, Mass.) showed how deep the Bobcats go, with White finishing 19th in 20:14.3 and Demeritt right behind her in 20th place with a time of 20:17.1. 

The Bobcats look to win their seventh straight state championship when they travel to Saxl Park in Bangor, Maine for the Maine State Meet, set for Saturday, Sept. 30 at 11am.