MEDFORD, MA (November 17, 2024) – Tufts University Women's Cross Country received an at-large team berth into the 2024 NCAA Division III Championship Race following their second-place finish at the NCAA East Regional yesterday.
The runner-up finish at the East Regional on Saturday in Hopkinton, New Hampshire was the fourth time in recent seasons that Tufts was second or better at the race. They won the 2021 Regional and were second in 2015 and 2017. As a result of yesterday's strong showing, the Jumbos were selected as one of the nation's 22 at-large berths into the DIII national championship.
The 2024 NCAA Championship Race will be held next Saturday (Nov. 23) at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Indiana. Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology is the host school of the NCAA Championships, and the women's race will start at 11 AM Eastern time.
This is the 13th NCAA team berth for Tufts overall, but the first since 2021. The Jumbos narrowly missed NCAA team berths in 2022 and 2023, but had individuals qualify. Between team and individual berths, Tufts has had representation at the NCAA race every year since 2002.A ninth-place finish by the Jumbos in 2021 was the program's sixth top-10 finish overall. A fifth by the team in 2006 and seventh-place efforts in 2015 and 2017 are the program's bests.
Led by junior
Liz Donahue's second-place finish at yesterday's Regional - Tufts' best since Danielle Page was second at the event in 2021 - all seven Jumbos who ran yesterday earned All-Region honors for finishing in the top 35 individually. Additionally, first-year
Zoe Margolies was eighth, junior
Lexi Dean was 19th, sophomore
Katya Henisz was 20th, junior
Jaclyn Turner was 22nd, sophomore
Sophie Carpenter was 23rd and junior
Grace Ogden was 31st.
Tufts Director of Track & Field and Cross Country
Jamie Norton and his staff will confirm the team's starting line-up for the NCAA finals this week leading up to the race. The NCAA Championship will be the first Nationals experience for any of the seven Jumbos who start for the team next Saturday in Indiana.
Visit Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology's NCAA Division III Championship Website
HERE.
--JUMBOS--
