On a gorgeous day at Mt. Greylock, Williams’ home course, the Amherst women’s cross country team (43 points) placed second to the Ephs (20 points) at the annual Little Three Championships, defeating Wesleyan (69 points). This victory for Williams marks their 10th straight win at the Little Three Championships. As a result of their strong showing, Amherst moved up one place in the New England Region rankings to No. 7, while Williams retained their second-place regional ranking.

The women raced a 6k at Mt. Greylock earlier in the season at the Purple Valley Classic. Mt. Greylock is known as a grueling course, with rolling hills and changes in terrain throughout the race.

In only her second meet of the year, senior Nicky Roberts made her presence known to all, leading from start to finish and capturing first place overall in a blistering time of 17:49. Roberts finished a full 34 seconds ahead of her nearest competitor, a 1:14 improvement over her time the previous year. Roberts is Amherst’s first individual Little Threes champion since 2012. Williams’s Victoria Kingham (18:23) and Audrey Rustad (19:00) placed second and third overall in the race.

Sophomore Kristin Ratliff (19:25) and first-year Olivia Polischeck (19:29) placed an impressive seventh and eighth overall in the race, working together and running tactically smart races. Junior Lela Walter (19:41) finished closely behind in tenth place, and junior Lizzie Lacy (20:20) placed 21st to round out the top five Mammoth finishers.

Amherst looks forward to the annual NESCAC Championships at Bates on Saturday, Oct. 28th. This will be the final meet of the season for all but the top seven runners, who will move on to the NCAA Division III New England Regional Meet on November 11th. With seven of the top ten ranked New England Region teams and one of the top ten ranked Atlantic Region teams competing, the NESCAC Championships is sure to be a highly competitive meet.