The ninth-ranked Middlebury women's cross country team was among 22 programs to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Championship. The Panthers will make their 28th appearance on the national stage when they head to Spartanburg, South Carolina, for the race on Saturday at 11:00 a.m.

ABOUT MIDDLEBURY

• Middlebury pursues its seventh NCAA Title, having claimed crowns in 2000, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2008 and 2010.
• The program has posted top-three finishes 12 times.
• The Panthers finished in 22nd place out of 32 teams a season ago.
• Middlebury has excelled this season, earning runner-up honors at both the NESCAC Championships and the Mideast Regional Championships.
• The squad's second-place finish in the regional event was its best since the 2021 campaign.

PANTHERS TO WATCH

• Four of the five Panther scorers secured top-35 finishes to earn all-region laurels on Saturday.
• Audrey MacLean broke both the league (20:47.8) and regional (21:21.6) tape, earning the individual crown at the Mideast Championships after top-three placements at the event in her first two seasons. The junior competes in her third NCAA Championship after pacing Middlebury with a sixth-place finish and United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-American honors last fall.
• Claire Palmer has continued her impressive rookie campaign, garnering third at the NESCAC Championship with a career-best clocking of 21:06.9 to earn all-conference recognition. The Panther finished sixth at the regional competition.
• A consistent scorer for Middlebury has been MK Cestaro, who secured regional praise with an 18th-place performance two weeks after posting a personal record of 21:54.3 to take 16th at the conference event.
• Shea Fajen rounded out the all-region honorees, claiming 28th by stopping the clock in 22:53.0. The Panther shaved 1.8 seconds off her best outing as a Panther in the league title race (22:07.7) to grab 20th place.
• Grace Kaelber rounded out Middlebury's regional scorers with a time of 23:07.6 to take 43rd place. The first-year logged her career-best time at the NESCAC Championships (22.25.0), shaving 2.5 ticks off the record she set the prior race at Connecticut College.
• Victoria Fawcett carves out a place in the Panther lineup for the third consecutive season after being an all-region honoree last year. The senior's best time of the campaign came in the conference race, clocking a 22:52.7 to land just outside the top 50. She will look to improve on her time of 22:56.9 from the 2024 edition.
• Naomi Atwood returns to the championship lineup after making her national debut as a rookie last season. She crossed the line in 22:37.2 at the NESCAC race, marking her best clocking of the season. Her career-best time (22:11.8) came in last fall's NESCAC event.
• Lulu Baker and Stephanie Renouf make their NCAA Championship debuts. Baker's best clocking as a Panther came in the league invite with a time of 22:57.0, dropping 8.2 seconds off her effort at the Connecticut College Invitational. Renouf established a new career mark in the Paul Short Run (22:41.3) and competed in both the conference and regional races.

ABOUT THE FIELD

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) begins its team title defense after making the field as an at-large selection. The 18-time defending NEWMAC Champions claimed the program's first national championship in 2024.
• Chicago earned second in last season's national title race and returns to this year's event as an at-large team.
• Williams, the third-place finisher as a team last fall, took first at the Mideast Regional Championships to secure an automatic bid to the field.
• The event will see a new individual champion as Faith Duncan of Wilmington does not return to the fold.
• Seven of the top 10 finishers from last year return to the title race, headlined by 2024 runner-up Haley Schoenegge of Vassar
• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's (RPI) Jules Bleskoski and Hannah Preisser of Carleton look to move up in the standings after finishing fourth and sixth, respectively.
• Williams' Kate Tuttle (eighth) and Washington and Lee's Olivia Warr (ninth) also return to the competitive field.
• The NESCAC will have strong representation at the meet with Amherst, Bowdoin, Middlebury and Williams all earning team berths. Bates, Colby and Wesleyan each send individual qualifiers to the event.

CHAMPIONSHIP INFORMATION

• Location: Roger Milliken Cross Country Course in Spartanburg, South Carolina
• Host School: Converse University
• Start Time: 11:00 a.m. eastern
• Championship Central