WATERFORD, CT (October 17, 2026) – The Tufts University women's cross country team posted a pair of strong finishes at the Connecticut College Invitational at Harkness Memorial State Park on Saturday, taking third in the Blue race and second in the White race.
In the Blue race, the top team for the #6 Jumbos scored 131 points to finish behind only eight-ranked Middlebury (63) and #1 Williams College (65). Tufts finished ahead of MIT (162), Vassar (216), host Connecticut College (219), Bates (231), Bowdoin (243) and Wesleyan (308) in the 28-team scoring field.
Tufts was led by a tight front pack. Sophomore
Zui Chinchalkar, sophomore
Lily Simmonds and senior
Katya Henisz crossed the line in 15th, 16th and 17th overall in the six-kilometer race, with 21:28.8, 21:29.0 and 21:29.4 times, respectively. All three finished within one second of each other.
Junior
Deirdre Flanagan was fourth for the Jumbos in 21:44.7 (36th), and first-year
Claire Palmer rounded out the scoring five with a 21:59.3 mark (54th). First-year
Kajol Karra (22:17.4) and junior
Samara McVey (22:17.9) finished sixth and seventh for Tufts, less than a second apart.
Earlier in the day, Tufts placed second out of 33 teams in the White race with its second team scoring 110 points. Williams won with 25, and Tufts finished ahead of Middlebury (119) and Wesleyan (144).
First-year
Sylvia Perrin led the Jumbos with a sixth-place finish in 22:36.4. Sophomore
Kayleigh Forde was 16th (22:58.5), first-year
Esme Gulbransen 18th (23:02.4), junior
Eleanor Whitehouse 25th (23:09.0) and sophomore
Alanna Jacob 54th (23:48.3).
Idle next week, Tufts will return to action on October 31 with the NESCAC Championships at Middlebury College.
--JUMBOS--
