The New York University women's cross country team entered Saturday's NCAA Division III Championship race as the
#6-ranked team in the nation.
The squad did not disappoint, as they posted a fourth-place finish in the 32-team competition. The Violets totaled 177 points, placing behind only top-ranked MIT (128), #2-ranked University of Chicago (138) and (also) #6-ranked Williams College (155).
NYU placed well ahead of the race's fifth-place finisher, #3-ranked Johns Hopkins University (256).
The 6k race was held at the LaVerne Gibson Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, IN
With the NYU men's team taking fifth place overall, NYU posted the best combined finish of any cross country program competing on Saturday.
"The fact that we were the best combined cross country program here today is just unbelievable," said Head Coach
Tyler Deck Shipley. "I'm honored to be their coach, and I appreciate the faith they have put into the program and to me as their coach."
Janie Cooper was first across the line for the Violets, finishing in 14th place with a time of 21:23.4.
"I could not have asked more of myself today. I'm very proud of how I did," Cooper said. "It was hard, but I think I gave the best of what I had. I put myself in a position where I could go for it. Two years ago I finished in like 200th place (she was actually 175th), so now to take 14th, well, I could not have seen that happening."
A trio of NYU runners followed in a pack together, as
Lucy Gott (39th, personal-best 21:46.4),
Josephine Dziedzic (41st, 21:47.4), and
Katherine Cochrane (43rd, 21:49.3) all finished within three seconds of each other.
Both Cooper and Gott received NCA All-America honors for their top-40 finishes.
NYU's fifth scorer was
Daniela Sekhar, who took 96th place (22:20.6) in a field of 290 runners.
Also competing for NYU were
Olivia Jackson (164th, 22:44.0) and Katherine Chang (239th, 23:27.3)
Faith Duncan of Wilmington College (20:16.5) won the individual title.
"The women were unbelievably brave. They raced tough up and down the lineup. They knew they were running for something bigger than themselves," Deck Shipley explained. "I'm absolutely elated for them."
In addition to the fourth-place national finish, the 2024 women's cross country team captured the NCAA Niagara Region Championship and placed second at the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championship.
