Oct. 8, 2011

Results

Junior Kelly Walton (Nahant, Mass.) placed 128th overall and 123rd among scoring runners to lead the UMass Lowell women’s cross country team to 29th place at the New England Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association (NEICAAA) Cross Country Championship Saturday afternoon at Franklin Park.

UMass Lowell compiled 852 points (123, 154, 178, 183, 214 – 215, 245) while Boston College won the team title with 38 points, and Boston University the runner-up with 73. Vermont (118), Williams (165) and Dartmouth (177) rounded out the top five.

“Right now I think we are the third or fourth-best (Division II) team of the region,” said head coach Gary Gardner. “I think we have the potential to fight for that second spot. We have the potential to run better than we did today.”

Walton covered the 5K course in 19 minutes, 55 seconds while senior MaryAnn Ford (Woburn, Mass.) placed 159th/154th in 20:17 to lead the River Hawks.

“I thought MaryAnn ran well, probably the best race for our women today,” said Gardner. “Kelly suffered from some asthma. I think the heat affected our women more than it did our men. But again, everyone had to run in it.”

Freshman Lindsay Pepin (Derry, N.H.) placed 185th/178th in 20:39 while senior Mary Hazen (Framingham, Mass.) placed 190th/183rd in 20:42 and junior Gina Butler (Dracut, Mass.) 222nd/214th in 21:22 to lead UMass Lowell’s scorers.

Junior Nicole Skotz (Tewksbury, Mass.) placed 223rd/215th in 21:26 while junior Colleen Kennedy (Wilmington, Mass.) placed 253rd/245th in 22:13.

Katie Matthews of Boston University won the individual title in 17:18.

The meet drew 269 runners representing 39 colleges.