Women's XC Clinches Fifth Consecutive NESCAC Title

Brunswick, ME- The smooth, fast course and brisk, wind-chilled weather perfectly set the stage for a cold-hard Eph sweep of the NESCAC title for both the womens and mens teams. The women's team garnered a score of just 35 points, triumphing over second place (Amherst) by 52 points. By comparison, in 2023, Williams beat out Amherst by 31 points, and in 2022 Williams clinched the title by a margin of 14 points. Perhaps indicative of the team's shining purple and gold future, this is the largest margin of victory for WXC at the NESCAC championship in the past four years.

The race started out a particularly fast clip, with the top of the field dipping below 5:40 at the mile marker. Williams faced ample jostling for position in the first loop of the course, with Williams and Amherst being neck and neck for first place at the completion of the first loop, each with 46 points. But the team showed its signature propensity for grit in the middle of the race, pushing far ahead of Amherst. All of Williams' top seven either held position or moved up in the second loop of the course, with sophomore Jordan Liss-Riordan moving up a whopping fourteen places. At the conclusion of the second loop, Williams held a score of just 36 points while Amherst had dropped to 76 points. Even more impressively, WXC was able to hold this tremendous lead for the rest of the race.

Once again, the depth and camaraderie of the team was on display, with Williams' first seven having a spread of just 12 places. First-year Kate Tuttle led the team, earning fourth with a time of 20:49 on the 6k course. Right with her were teammates Tamar Byl-Brann in fifth with a time of 20:50 and Kate Swann in sixth with a time of 20:53. The next Ephs across the line were Lily Yampolsky, in 9th with a time of 21:14, and Jordan Liss-Riordan, in 11th with a time of 21:17. Nora Johnson, finishing 14th with a time of 21:25, and Charlene Peng, finishing 16th with a time of 21:33, rounded out Williams' top seven for the championship race. In typical Eph fashion, this depth was evident throughout the whole race roster, with Williams second seven all finishing within one minute of each other and many hitting personal records. 

The quiet tenacity of the team shone through brilliantly today. "Going into the day, we kind of knew we had been working really hard and had a really strong pack," reflected captain Nora Johnson. "We raced against a lot of these competitors before, we lost to Amherst at Little 3s and then pushed ahead of them at Conn College, and so we knew that we were going to have to work hard to win. Before, we talked about how success is half being prepared and half being ready day of to give it your all. We knew that we were prepared and we gave it our all."

The uniqueness of the WXC team this year is not lost on Nora- "I'm really proud of a lot of Ephs moving up throughout the race today. We had our first five across the line before other teams had their first, second, or third finishers, which I think really speaks to the depth of our team this year". 

Nora's teammates reiterated these feelings- "we had multiple packs throughout the race, which I think definitely contributed to that phenomenal points result at the end", Tamar Byl-Brann commented. "It was so much fun to get to run with a big Eph herd, which made it so much easier to focus on the race," Kate Tuttle enthused, "and then it was so cool to see everyone do really well". 

The Ephs will race next at regionals, hosted back at Connecticut College, on November 16th.