WINTHROP, Mass. - After stellar performances in leading the Regis College women's cross country team to an eighth place finish Saturday, ahead of five fellow Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) members, Ashleigh Kelley (Stoneham, Mass.) has been named the GNAC Women's Cross Country Runner of the Week for the fourth time this season and Madelyn Klein (Framingham, Mass.) has been selected the GNAC Women's Cross Country Rookie of the Week for the second time, announced Monday, Oct. 3, by the league office.
Kelley finished in the top eight for the third time this year, crossing the finish line in sixth place at the Keene State College Invitational in Keene, N.H. Her five-kilometer time of 18:49.2, an average of 6:04.3 per mile, was the fastest ever by a Regis runner on the Keene State course, 12 seconds quicker than Maggie Mann's time at the 2019 event.
Also Saturday, Klein cut 50 seconds off her previous best five-kilometer time established just two weeks ago, finishing in 36th place overall with a time of 20:32.4, averaging 6:37.6 per mile. She has now cut over two minutes off her competition time from the opening event of the season to Saturday over the span of just one month.
As a team, the Pride finished in eighth place with 176 points, just nine points behind UMass Dartmouth in seventh place and 19 points in front of ninth-place Clark. Regis was the top GNAC program in the standings, ahead of Emmanuel, Norwich, Rivier, Lasell, and Dean.
The Regis College cross country team heads to Franklin Park in Boston for the Suffolk Invitational Saturday, Oct. 15. The women's competition is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m., followed by the men's competition at 2:30 p.m.
Regis College sponsors 20 intercollegiate sports, including women's cross country, within NCAA Division III as a member of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference.