LOGAN TOWNSHIP, N.J. – The No. 17-ranked Carleton College women's cross country team raced its way to a second-place finish in New Jersey at the 35-team Inter-Regional Border Battle hosted by Rowan University.
Clara Mayfield (Sr./Manhattan, Kan./Manhattan) received a sword—yes, an actual sword—after winning the meet, which featured 308 racers.
While the Knights' top 10 runners were in the Garden State, the team also sent a half-dozen racers to the Tori Neubauer Invitational hosted by UW-La Crosse.
Inter-Regional Border Battle Recap
Joining Mayfield among the top-15 finishers were
Hannah Preisser (Fy./Chapel Hill, N.C./Carrboro),
Sophie McManus (So./McCall, Idaho/McCall-Donnelly),
Phoebe Ward (Jr./Dobbs Ferry, N.Y./Dobbs Ferry), and
Libby Rowland (So./Tulsa, Okla./Holland Hall), who placed fourth, fifth, 13th, and 15th respectively.
Those results gave Carleton a team score of 38, only one point behind No. 1-ranked SUNY-Geneseo. RPI and Elizabethtown finished third and fourth in the team competition with 109 and 170 points, respectively. Both teams were receiving votes in the latest national poll. Fifth place Widener (187 points) is currently ranked No. 35. No. 4 ranked Johns Hopkins sent a portion of its roster to this meet and took 16th.
"No one would have expected these results, not even us," said Carleton head coach
Donna Ricks. "These results demonstrate that on any given day, the victory is there for the taking. Overall, it was a great experience for our team to compete against teams that we were not familiar with, allowing them to challenge the course and themselves, and helping to solidify their race structure. Our team demonstrated that they are mentally strong and their training is taking hold. I am so proud of their effort. There is still a lot of work to be done, but right now we are going to savor this."
Mayfield covered the 6000-meter distance in 20:48.4, good for a 33.6-second margin of victory. This is her third consecutive individual victory.
"Clara had the mindset going in that she was not going to be denied today," Ricks said. "She took it from the start, racing confident and strong throughout.
Preisser (21:51.0), McManus (22:05.7), Ward (22:23.7), and Rowland (22:38.6) joined Mayfield in posting season-best times.
"Hannah, Sophie, Phoebe, and Libby ran gritty races and were instrumental in our second-place finish. It was fun to see just how much they wanted it today," said Ricks.
Mary Blanchard (Jr./Grinnell, Iowa/Grinnell) returned to racing this week after being off and did not miss a beat as she placed 34th with a time of 23:18.7.
Aliya Larsen (Fy./Newport, Ore./Newport) was the fourth-fastest rookie in the field, clocking a time of 23:23.6, which was good for 37th place.
At the mile, Carleton trailed SUNY-Geneseo by 20 points. The margin was still 12 about 1.5 miles later.
"These women ran great race structures today," said Ricks. "With the large number of competitors in this race, they did a great job of getting off the line and establishing a solid position for the opening portion of the race. I was proud of the effort that they put forth throughout the race and especially the last 2K. This team knew they were running against one of the best teams in D-III. They accepted the challenge and didn't back down."
Tori Neubauer Invitational Recap
Carleton placed 16th out of 30 schools competing.
Helen Cross (Jr./Nederland, Colo./Nederland) was the Knights top finisher at 23:59.7 to place 55th out of 364 runners to compete the race.
Carleton's other scorers crossed the line in close proximity to one another.
Kate Ulrich (So./Waconia, Minn./Waconia) posted a time of 25:07.8, and
Margo Lewis (So./Brookline, Mass./The Rivers School) finished at 25:12.4.
Annie Jay (Fy./Berkeley, Calif./Berkeley) and
Maggie Votruba (So./Phoenix, Ariz./North Canyon) finished at 25:14.0 and 25:14.7.
Nell Schafer (Sr./Oakland, Calif./Oakland Technical) completed the race in 25:22.6
Up Next for the Knights
Carleton will compete at MIAC Championships on Saturday, Oct. 29 at the Highland 9-Hole Golf Course in St. Paul, Minn.
