Nicole Mauro Places 135th at NCAA Division III Championships
NORTHFIELD, Minn. -- Senior harrier Nicole Mauro recorded a time of 23:14 to place 135th at the NCAA Division III Women's Cross Country Championships held at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota on Saturday.
NORTHFIELD, Minn. -- The 6,000 meter Women's Cross Country Course at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota was covered in a dusting of snow when Bridgewater State senior Nicole Mauro showed up on Saturday morning. Competing in her first national championship meet, she proved that she deserved to be in the mix with 280 of the best Division III runners in the nation. She ran a time of 23:13 on the challenging course which was good enough to be deemed the 135th best Division III runner in the country.
Nicole was the first MASCAC woman to earn a trip to the National Cross Country Championship meet since Fitchburg's Kimberly Bresnahan in 1987 who took 90th place. Nicole is only the second Bridgewater State female cross country runner to ever make the Championship meet. Bridgewater's Andrea Brousaides, an All-American transfer from Nebraska-Wesleyan, raced for Bridgewater in her last season and took 84th at the championship meet in 1982.
The national championship title went to the women of Amherst College, proving that it is still a good time to be a New England sports fan. They won the team title with 120 points over Plattsburgh State (159 points). The Amherst women fielded four All-Americans and placed all seven of their varsity women in the top 45 finishers of the race.
For the second year in a row, senior Sarah Zerzan of Willamette University won the individual title, running away from the field with a winning time of 20:53.