Record Falls as Women’s Cross Country Places 16th at UMass Dartmouth Invitational
NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass. (September 18, 2021) -- Graduate student Bethaney Donnelly (Manchester, United Kingdom) set a new program 5k record on Saturday at the UMass Dartmouth Invitational, as she led the way for the Franklin Pierce University women's cross country team. She set the new time at 17:47 and took third, out of 234 runners. On the team side of things, Franklin Pierce finished 16th, out of 30 squads.
At the top of the field, Worcester Polytechnic collected 68 points, to nip second-place Brandeis (83 points) by 15 and third-place Mount Holyoke (96 points) by 28. Franklin Pierce amassed 487 points on the way to its 16th-place finish. Individually, Donnelly was just nine seconds off the pace set by the meet's winner, Wellesley senior Ari Marks (17:38). The program record which Donnelly lowered was her own, as she previously notched an 18:46 last March at the Bruce Kirsh Cup. She also bettered an 18:53 run by Alyssa Lambert '16 on the UMass Dartmouth course in 2015.
Behind Donnelly, it was 106 spots back to the next Franklin Pierce runner. In 109th was sophomore Victoria Van Houten (Wantage, N.J.), who finished the race in 20:33. Sophomore Meghan Sheline (Southington, Conn.) was next for the Ravens, as she took 134th for a 21:05 time. Following closely behind was senior Alana Thompson (Westampton, N.J.), who claimed 144th for her 21:21 time.
Rounding out Franklin Pierce's scoring five in 159th was sophomore Meagan Foley (Beverly, Mass.), with a time of 21:50, and she was followed by sophomore Jasmin Baillargeon (South Wheelock, Vt.) in 160th for her 21:52 time. Sophomore Jenna Parent (Tyngsboro, Mass.) took 193rd for her 23:11 race time. Close behind was graduate student Alena Masterson (Pelham, N.H.), who took 200th for her 23:29 time.
The Ravens also entered runners in Saturday's junior varsity race as well, led by junior Alex Collins (Monroe, N.H.), who ran a 22:33 time and took 63rd out of 121 runners. In 83rd was sophomore Katie Peterson (Derry, N.H.), who raced a 23:22 time. In 100th was sophomore Emma Cutter (Newburyport, Mass.) with a 24:28 time. She was followed by sophomore Kelsey Gregorio (New Boston, N.H.) in 108th for her 26:21 race.
The Ravens will be back at it on Saturday, Oct. 2, when they host the Bruce Kirsh Cup in Hopkinton N.H.