BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Navy women's cross country team continued its successful 2021 campaign as the Mids began postseason action on Sunday with a victory at the 2021 Patriot League Championship at the Goodman Campus Cross Country course at Lehigh University. Building off the momentum of its victory over Army two weeks ago, Navy used a similar pack strategy and overtook Boston University over the second half of the race and placed its five scoring runners in the top-12 within 14.7 seconds of each other as the Mids finished with 47 points versus 52 for the Terriers. Led by
Elizabeth Sullivan (Jr., Portsmouth, R.I.) and
Ellie Abraham (So., Brookings, S.D.) finishing within 0.3 seconds of each other in seventh and eighth place, respectively, Navy won its fifth title in program history and first since 2012.
"We went into today's race with a plan and the women held each other accountable from start to finish," remarked head coach
Kim Lewnes. "It was a full team effort. I am so impressed with the 21-second spread one through six.
"Our team has been working really hard for this. We have been aiming for a Patriot League Championship since the fall of 2019. We didn't have the opportunity to compete in the 2020 championship last year, which made us all the more hungry. I am so proud of these women!"
The 6k race at the Goodman course began with Boston University holding a 16-point lead over Navy at the one-mile checkpoint, 32-48. Both teams had four runners in the top-10, though the Terriers saw their duo of Corinne Batsu and Andrea Claeson sitting in first and second place. Abraham and Sullivan were nearly stride-for-stride with the BU pair as they checked in 0.3 and 0.4 seconds back with respective times of 5:50.3 and 5:50.4, good for fourth and fifth place. Team captain
Jessica Nangle (Sr., Southampton, Pa.) and
Emily Boutin (So., Chicopee, Mass.) were the third and fourth Midshipmen competitors to pass the one-mile marker in ninth and tenth place, respectively.
The Boston-Navy rivalry continued over the next segment of the race as the same two squads checked in first and second at the two-mile marker with the Terriers ahead 34 to 51 over the Mids. Abraham stayed in the lead pack as she clocked in with a split time of 11:32.2 just 0.4 seconds behind Army's Georgia Jones, who paced the field. Sullivan and Nangle were within five seconds of Abraham as the duo rounded out the top-10. Slightly further down the field,
Winter Boese (Jr., Clark, Colo.), Boutin and
Maddie Warrender (Sr., Mount Wolf, Pa.) started making their move into a team pack in 13th, 16th and 17th place at the two-mile checkpoint.
Over the final half of the race, Navy made its way into first place in the team standings as the Mids' pack strategy dominated the individual rankings. Initially trailing Boston as the Terriers had the third, fourth and fifth-place individual finishers, a caravan of Mids led by Sullivan started crossing the finish line back-to-back-to-back in seventh, eighth and ninth place. Sullivan completed the 6k race with a time of 21:45.4, 0.3 seconds ahead of Abraham, who clocked in at 21:45.7. Boese was the third Navy runner to finish as she was ninth at 21:52.8. After Lafayette's Autumn Sands came in tenth place, Navy clinched the team title with three more Midshipmen runners sprinting across the finish line in the form of Warrender (21:56.2), Boutin (22:03.4) and Nangle (22:06.0). That streak of 11th, 12th and 13th concluded Navy's scoring with 47 points as BU didn't round out its five-person score until Madeline Bachmann crossed in 21st place for a total of 52 points.
The final standings saw Navy in first with 47 points, Boston in second with 52 and Army in third with 70 points. Bucknell and Lehigh completed the top-five with team scores of 119 and 160 points, respectively. Holy Cross (191), Lafayette (194), Loyola (204), Colgate (226) and American (298) rounded out the conference leaderboard.
In the post-meet awards ceremony, the top-six placing Mids all earned All-Patriot League nods with Sullivan named to the First Team and Abraham, Boese, Warrender, Boutin and Nangle honored on the Second Team. The six All-Patriot League honorees is the second-most in program history trailing just the 2008 Navy team that had seven runner garner awards. Additionally, Head Coach
Kim Lewnes was named the Patriot League Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year.
Navy will continue its postseason action on Friday, Nov. 12 with the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship. The Mids will look to recreated today's result as they will be racing on this same Goodman Campus Cross Country Course.
Navy's Patriot League Championship Titles
2007 (Co-Champions), 2008, 2011, 2012, 2021
