Bentley Women Come Close to Qualifying, Finish 4th in NCAA Regional

BOSTON, Mass. -- With a couple of the top five hampered by injury, the Bentley University women’s cross country team finished fourth of 28 in the NCAA Division II East Regional at Franklin Park, missing out on advancing to the nationals by only eight points in Ed Lyons’ swan song as Falcon head coach.
              
Stonehill College easily took the team title with a score of 42, and the College of Saint Rose was the other team to qualify, with a score of 131. Southern Connecticut State took third at 136, and Bentley came in with a 139. UMass-Lowell (144) completed the top five.
              
Bentley’s number one runner was freshman Ashley Nichols (Kenmore, Wash./Ingelmore HS), who was 13th in the field of 187 to earn All-East honors. She posted a time of 23:35 over the 6,000-meter course and was second among freshmen, finishing 28 seconds and five places behind Emily Regan of Stonehill.
              
Bentley was the only team other than Stonehill to place its entire top five in the top 40. Sophomore Caitlin Fahey (Bridgewater/Coyle Cassidy HS) was 25th (23:52), junior Evelyn Marrero (Amsterdam, N.Y./Amsterdam HS) 28th (23:53), sophomore Amy Varsell (Burlington, Conn./Lewis S. Mills HS) 33rd (23:57) and senior Lauren Lesniak (Dracut/Dracut HS) 40th (23:57).
              
Individual honors went to American International’s Jeptui Cherutich, who covered the course in 22:18 to win by 19 seconds over Southern Connecticut’s Alasia Griebel.
            
NCAA DIV. II EAST REGIONAL
At Franklin Park, Boston

Team Standings: 1. Stonehill 42, 2. Saint Rose 131, 3. Southern Connecticut 136, 4. Bentley 139, 5. UMass-Lowell 144, 6. Philadelphia 194, 7. Merrimack 276, 8. Southern New Hampshire 303, 9. Le Moyne 311, 10. Adelphi 336, 11. Wilmington 343, 12. New Haven 378, 13. St. Michael’s 382, 14. Saint Anselm 392, 15. Gordon 403, 16. American International 421, 17. St. Thomas Aquinas 429, 18. Molloy 481, 19. C.W. Post 505, 20. Nyack 515, 21. Sciences 531, 22. Dowling 542, 23. New York Tech 552, 24. Assumption 627, 25. Pace 685, 26. Holy Family 692, 27. Chestnut Hill 732, 28. Felician 748.

Top Individuals: 1. Jeptui Cherutich, AIC, 22:18; 2. Alasia Griebel, So. Conn, 22:37; 3. Emma Lundberg, SNHU, 22:52; 4. Kristen Mahoney, Stonehill, 22:59; 5. Jill Alves, Stonehill, 22:59.

Bentley Runners: 13. Ashley Nichols, 23:35; 25. Caitlin Fahey, 23:52; 28. Evelyn Marrero, 23:53; 33. Amy Varsell, 23:57; 40. Lauren Lesniak, 24:10; 61. Leah Schiller, 25:00; 75. Brittany Roderman, 25:23.