Owen leads Seahawks in regional championship
BRUNSWICK, Maine – Senior Olivia Owen (Weymouth, Mass.) paced Salve Regina in the NCAA Division III New England Regional Championship at Bowdoin College on Saturday, racing to her best placement in a regional meet and the third-fastest 6,000-meter time of her career.
Owen split the first mile in 6:08, working her way into the upper third of a field that featured 380 runners from more than 60 teams. Competitors had to contend with cold temperatures – it was below freezing at race time – and patches of ice on a course that had seen snowfall earlier in the week.
The frozen footing failed to slow the region's top harriers, however. Sixteen runners crossed the finish line before the clock read 22 minutes, and 30 maintained a pace of 6 minutes per mile or faster. Owen finished at 23:41.3.
Sophomores Cate Norton (Sandy Hook, Conn.) and Christina Moran (Oceanside, N.Y.) were the second and third runners for Salve Regina, with the second- and third-fastest 6K performances of their careers. Norton, at 23:55.6, was 1 minute, 15 seconds faster than she was on the same course a year ago. Moran, at 24:11.8, improved by 36 seconds.
Juniors Sydney DeCesare (Johnston, R.I.) and Kat Bruce (Dalton, Mass.) completed the scoring for Salve Regina. Bruce, making her regional meet debut, raced to the second-fastest 6K of her career.
Salve Regina's scoring five combined for an aggregate time of 2 hours, 2 minutes and 29 seconds, a mark that was nearly two minutes faster than the team's combined time in the same meet last year.
MIT sophomore Izzi Gengaro won the individual championship with a time of 21:19.1, battling Danielle Page of Tufts and Sophia Gorman of Colby, who crossed the finish line at 21:20.1 and 21:21.3. Williams placed three runners in the top 10, rolling to the team title with a score of 64. MIT finished second with 84 points. Williams and MIT earned the automatic bids to the NCAA Division III National Championship in Louisville, Kentucky.
The Salve Regina performances included:
110. Olivia Owen – 23:41.3
131. Cate Norton – 23:55.6
149. Christina Moran – 24:11.8
209. Sydney DeCesare – 25:10.3
225. Kat Bruce – 25:30.7
231. Cianna Lynch – 25:37.7
254. Meredith Casey – 26:09.9
The regional meet marks the end of the fall racing season for Salve Regina.
