Teams: Women's Cross Country: Press Releases

Wednesday, November 1, 2006

O'BRIEN LEADS TRIO OF ALL-NESCAC JUMBOS FOR CROSS COUNTRY

MEDFORD -- Tufts University women's cross country's best performance at the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) championship race last Saturday (Oct. 28) in 19 years was spearheaded by a trio of runners who placed in the top 10 individually.

Junior Katy O'Brien (North Easton, MA/Oliver Ames), junior Catherine Beck (Brookline, NH/Hollis-Brookline) and sophomore Evelyn Sharkey (Brunswick, ME/John Bapst) all earned 2006 NESCAC First Team honors. The All-NESCAC team is selected based on individual performance at the championship meet, which was held at Harkness Memorial State Park in Waterford, Connecticut and hosted by Connecticut College.

Run in rain and windy conditions, O'Brien won the six-kilometer race in a time of 22 minutes, 49 seconds. She was 18 seconds ahead of the rest of the field and improved upon a 25^th place finish in this race last year and a 30^th place in NESCAC as a freshman in 2004.

Beck finished as the NESCAC runner-up, crossing the finish line in 23:07 to give head coach Kristen Morwick's team a strong 1-2 scoring punch. One of the most talented distance runners in New England, Beck was 11^th in NESCAC for 2005 and 35^th in 2004. She earned All-NESCAC Second Team honors with her finish last season.

Sharkey continued to emerge as a force for the Jumbos with her seventh-place finish on Saturday in a time of 23:25, earning the final spot on the All-NESCAC First Team. She took 21^st at the conference championship last year.

With three scorers in the top 10, Tufts totaled 69 points to finish just five points behind Amherst College. It was the second-closest finish to the event in the past 10 years, and the Jumbos edged Williams College by one point and defending champion Middlebury by two points.

The second-place finish was the best by the Jumbo team since they won the NESCAC championship in 1987.

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