Middlebury's Audrey MacLean broke the tape first at the NESCAC Championship, earning the individual conference title on Saturday. She helped lead the Panthers to a fourth-place finish, amassing 108 points with several personal-best times. Williams claimed its fifth-straight league crown with 46 points, while Amherst (80 points) and Tufts (86 points) rounded out the top-three teams. 
 
COURSE INFORMATION

• Location: Brunswick, Maine
• Host School: Bowdoin
• Distance: 6 kilometers (6K)
• Weather: 47F
• Finish: 4th/11

HIGHLIGHTS

• MacLean paced the tight pack from wire-to-wire. The Panther shaved nearly 23 seconds off her personal-best time, edging out Hamilton's Keira Rogan by just over a second by clocking a 20:21.15.
• Next for Middlebury was Bea Parr, placing 13th with a time of 21:20.8. The time was a personal record by roughly two seconds.
• Victoria Fawcett had an incredible personal performance, stopping the clock at 21:38.27 to place 22nd. Fawcett's time set a personal best by almost a full minute.
• Rounding out the scorers with finishes in the top-50 were Kate Ratcliffe and Naomi Atwood, who each recorded personal-record times. Ratcliffe ascended five spots to 38th over the final stretch, clocking in at 21:58.01. Atwood picked off 12 runners to garner 44th with a time of 22:11.75. 
• Violet Ross dropped her career-best clocking by 26 ticks, breaking the tape at 22:50.73 for a 49th place showing.
• The seventh runner for Middlebury was MK Cestaro, who clocked in at 22:21.54 for 56th. Just behind in 57th was Caroline VanSchaick (22:23.22), as both Panthers ran their fastest races to date.

NOTES

• This marks the ninth time a Panther has been crowned the individual NESCAC Champion and first since 2016. There have been two Middlebury runners who have earned the title more than once. MacLean's time was the fastest 6K time in the league's event since 2012.
• The race was tightly contested with the top-four racers finishing within 33 seconds of each other.
• The Ephs claimed their conference-leading 21st championship and fifth consecutive.
• The field featured five nationally-ranked teams, including #6 Williams, #15 Amherst, #18 Tufts, #21 Middlebury and #23 Connecticut College. 

Middlebury is idle next weekend before returning to Connecticut College for the NCAA MidEast Regional Championship on Saturday, November 16 with a trip to the national meet on the line.