South Hadley, MA --- Coast Guard won its first-ever women's cross country championship, while the MIT men clinched their ninth consecutive title today on the Mount Holyoke College cross country course.

Coast Guard placed three runners in the top fourteen to win the 5-kilometer run with 54 points. Junior JoEllen Arons (Golden Valley, Minn.) led the Bears with a time of 20:02.70, placing her fourth in the field of 132 harriers. Defending champion Wellesley College finished second with 66 points. Wellesley first-year Clare Egan (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) was the individual winner, crossing the line in 19:45.30 to gain both Runner of the Year and Rookie of the Year accolades.

Amanda Learned (Hopkinton, MA) was named to the All-Conference team as WPI ran to a sixth place finish at the NEWMAC Championships on Saturday. Learned ran the in 20:30.60 while Megan Murphy (Perkasie, PA) finished in 26th place (21:02.20). Meghan Woods (Hanover, MA) (35th, 21:17.70), Marissa Gray (Stanley, NY) (68th, 22:40.80), and Jen Keating (Winchester, MA) (77th, 23:02.70) rounded out the top five for the Engineers.

Eight MIT runners landed in the top fourteen to lead the Engineers to their ninth straight championship. MIT tallied just 26 points for the race. Sophomore Jake Ruzevick (Coronado, Calif.) powered the Engineers with a time of 27:02.90 to place second among 105 finishers. Coast Guard senior Michael Flint (Fairfax, Va.) led the pack, completing the 8-kilometer course in just 26:44.70 to claim Runner of the Year honors. The Bears placed second as a team with 63 points, just one point ahead of Springfield College. MIT's Johannes Schneider (Bad Driburg, Germany) was named Rookie of the Year as the top-performing first-year (5th overall) in a time of 27:22.20.

WPI placed an impressive fourth. Graduate student Alex White (Washington, MI) ran the course in 27:55.10 and was named to the All-Conference team for his 13th place finish. The top five runners for WPI included White, Daniel Duffty (Haverhill, MA) in 44th (29:30.10), Chris McCann (Haverhill, MA) in 47th (29:35.10), Kevin Jillson (East Sandwich, MA) in 50th (29:46.20), and Chris Gabrielson (Westford, MA) in 54th (30:15.40).

Both WPI teams will be back in action next Saturday when they travel to Williams to compete in the ECAC Championships beginning at 11am.

Portions of the release courtesy of Mount Holyoke Sports Information 

Men's Results

Women's Results