ATTLEBORO, Mass. — 

Claire Semerod (Centennial, Colo.) won the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Women's Cross Country Championship race at Highland Park in Attleboro, Massachusetts, on Saturday while Lauren Mellon (Falls Church, Va.) and Brooke Hunter (Phillipsburg, N.J.) joined her on the All-Conference list to lead the U.S. Coast Guard Academy team to second place.

Semerod's victory was a hard-fought dual with Kate Sanderson of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the reigning champion of the meet. The two were out with five other runners in the lead pack during the first mile before Sanderson put in a surge that only Semerod was able to follow. After passing the two-mile mark, it was Semerod's turn to surge, and she took the lead while turning up the pressure and pace on MIT's lead runner.

Just past the three-mile mark, Semerod's hard pace started to pay dividends as she was able to create a multiple-second gap from Sanderson. With a big effort on the final hill of the course, Semerod was able to fully separate from her competition and crossed the finish line in 21:26, with Sanderson following at 21:38. Semerod is the first Bear to win the championship race since Kaitlyn Mooney '21 in 2018, which was the second in a back-to-back for the program legend.

"The last time Claire ran this course was the NEWMAC championship during her freshman year, and it was the worst race of her collegiate career," says Greg Ahnrud, head coach of the Coast Guard cross country program. "She has grown so much as an athlete in the last four years, both physically and mentally. It's very fitting that she earned the win here against some of the best in the country.

Mellon had a great race in her own right. Semerod's fellow senior captain started out near the front of the main chase pack and was able to pick runners off throughout the race as they faded away from the leaders. Her time of 22:51 was good for 11th place, earning her All-NEWMAC for the second consecutive year.

The Bears' third-through-sixth runners finished up in a tight pack. Hunter grabbed the final All-Conference spot with a 19th-place finish, and teammates Mary Faltys (Schuyler, Neb.), Kevyn Fish (Pittsburgh, Pa.), and Mia Mastrogiovanni (Manahawkin, N.J.) all took the next three spots. Finishing seventh for the team was Amanda Delevan (Boiling Springs, Pa.), who wasn't far behind in 27th place.

MIT was the meet champions with 24 points, and finishing in third on the team rankings was Wellesley College, who had 112. Coast Guard accumulated 66. "Claire is deservedly going to get a lot of attention for her individual victory, but the team result is just as good," says Ahnrud. "MIT is one of the best teams in the country, and Wellesley has been in the mix for a national ranking all season. For us to finish closer to MIT than Wellesley did to us should be a big confidence boost for the team as they head into Regionals."

Next up on the postseason docket for Bears women's cross country is the D3 Challenge, hosted by Connecticut College at Stenger Farm Park in nearby Waterford, Connecticut.