Wildcats take second, Needham finishes fifth
NASHUA, NH – After a disappointing performance the previous week, the Wheelock cross country team bounced back to take second place in at the Daniel Webster Eagle Invitational, led by Senior Kate Needham (North Conway, NH) who finished fifth overall and second among New England Collegiate Conference runners. (Right: Kate Needham leads the way).
The Wildcats finished behind only New Hampshire Tech, scoring 73 points and coming in ahead of conference schools Newbury, Daniel Webster, Elms, and Mitchell.
Needham's time of 24:03 was less than a minute behind top finisher Patricia Pruiksma (23:08) of New Hampshire Tech, and 52 seconds off of Newbury's Solange Thomas (23:10). The performance is the second best of Needham's two year career.
Freshman Kailah Simon (Norwalk, CT) took second for Wheelock and 12th overall (25:48), an impressive performance considering it was the first NCAA meet of her career.
The Wildcat’s Caitlin Burke (Westborough, MA) surged back to her old form, taking third for Wheelock with a time of 26:30, knocking almost a minute off of last week’s time. Cara McAuliffe, Kelly Meehan, and Maria Sedari all finished within five seconds of each other, nabbing spots 21-23, while Sarah Negron and Molly Thomas rounded out the best performance in the short history of Wheelock cross country.
