Cross Country to Host Battle in Beantown Sep. 26

Sept. 23, 2014

Chestnut Hill, Mass. – No. 16 Boston College women’s cross country will host the annual Coast-to-Coast Battle in Beantown this Friday, Sep. 26 at Franklin Park, the historic cross country course in Jamaica Plain, Mass. The national invite will welcome some of the top teams in the country. In addition to Boston College, five more teams in attendance on the women’s side rank in the top 25 nationally including No. 1 Michigan, No. 5 Georgetown, No. 15 Syracuse, No. 18 Providence, and No. 25 Dartmouth.

The Coast-to-Coast Battle in Beantown will also feature talented Northeast region competition as runners from regionally ranked No. 8 Harvard, No. 9 Stony Brook, and No. 10 Columbia, will join Syracuse, Providence, Boston College, and Dartmouth in Friday’s race. This field will showcase ten of the top 15 Northeast region teams as well as the top-ranked teams from the Great Lakes region (Michigan), the top ranked team from the Mid-Atlantic region (Georgetown) and the No. 5 ranked team from the Southeast region, Duke.

Women's Teams

Boston College

Connecticut

Columbia

Cornell

Dartmouth

Duke

Eastern Michigan

Fordham

Gerogetown

Hartford

Harvard

Johns Hopkins

Lipscomb

Massachusetts

Michigan

New Hampshire

Northeastern

Providence

Rhode Island

Stony Brook

Syracuse

In last year’s meet, Liv Westphal placed third overall in the women’s 5K with a time of 17:00.0. Westphal finished just behind Providence runners Emily Sisson and Laura Nagel. Other top runners who will return to the meet this year are Sarah Collins (4^th place, 17:07.0) and Catarina Rocha (7^th place, 17:28.0) from Providence, and New Hampshire’s Laura Donegan (13^th place, 17:34.0) and Elinor Purrier (14^th place, 17:35.0).

Senior captain Madeline Davidson finished 16^th in last year’s race, clocking 17:35.0 as BC’s second finisher for the team in 2013. Brittany Winslow placed 27^th at 17:58.0 as BC’s third runner and Danielle Winslow finished with a time of 18:30.0. Danielle Winslow went on to the outdoor track season in 2014 and qualified to the outdoor NCAA regionals in the steeplechase. She brings this experience back to The Heights as another leader on the team.

As a team, Boston College finished fourth overall in this meet last year with 110 points. Defending national champions Providence College took first place last year with Oregon and Cornell rounding out the top three of the 2013 Coast-to-Coast. This year looks to be just as competitive.

Members of the Boston College women’s cross country team will race at 3:00 p.m. in the women’s 5K race.

The men’s 8K race will follow at 3:30 p.m. and will also feature some top competition nationally and regionally. Nationally ranked No. 3 Oregon, who finished first overall as a team in 2013’s Coast-to-Coast Battle in Beantown, will also be in attendance for this year’s meet. Oregon’s Edward Cheserek, who placed first overall individually at 24:11.0 and went on to win the NCAA championship for individual, will be returning to Franklin Park again to defend his title. . No. 8 Syracuse, No. 16 Providence, and No. 30 Columbia will also race on Friday.

The men’s race will host many of the top-ranked teams in the Northeast region as well. No. 1 Syracuse, No. 3 Providence, No. 4 Columbia, No. 6 Harvard, No. 8 Cornell, No. 9 Northeastern, No. 13 New Hampshire, and No. 15 Stony Brook will all be in attendance to create one of the most talented fields assembled for regional competition early in the season.

The Coast-to-Coast Battle in Beantown brings in top-ranked regional teams from outside of the Northeast on the men’s side as well. Oregon ranks No. 1 in the West region. Also traveling to Franklin Park for the meet is Georgetown, the No. 4 team in the Mid-Atlantic region, and Lipscomb, No. 6 in the South.

 Men's Teams