Seven Sisters Race Results

BRYN MAWR, PA (October 15, 2011) – For the second year in a row, the Vassar College women's cross country team captured the Seven Sisters Cross Country Championship. The Brewers defeated a strong field, led by perennial power Wellesley College, Saturday afternoon at Haverford College.

In the 30th running of the 5k race, the Brewers placed five runners in the top ten to repeat as champions in the annual event that has been held every year since 1982. Vassar finished with 33 points, followed by Wellesley with 59 points. Swarthmore was third (86), Smith College (115), St. Catherine University (123), host Bryn Mawr College (140) and Mount Holyoke College (158).  Prior to Vassar's back-to-back championships, the last school to repeat was Wellesley, which won straight times from 2002-04.

On an afternoon when the Brewers were not at full strength due to illness of sophomore Aubree Piepmeier who ran conservatively, Vassar used its depth and pack running to capture the crown.

Based on their performances, junior Kelly Holmes, senior Elizabeth Forbes, freshmen Harper Cleves and Viviane Ford and senior Samantha Creath were named to the All-Seven Sisters Team.

Holmes led Vassar across the tape with a 19:04.90 time in the race with 102 participants and finished second overall. Over the last 300 meters of the race, Holmes closed the gap on Wellesley's Leah Clement to within 50 meters, and was just barely edged at the finish line by five-tenths of a second with a 19:04.46 time. “If the race was five meters longer, Kelly would have won the race,” said head coach James McCowan. “Had her timing been a little earlier, the race would have been hers – she gave a tremendous effort and like a lot of our top seven runners today, really stepped up to bring back the championship for a second straight year.”

Senior Elizabeth Forbes finished fourth overall with a 19:29 time, and the Brewers secured the victory with Cleves, Ford and Creath placing in the eighth, ninth and tenth positions.

Cleves finished closely behind Swarthmore's Jen Johnson in eighth place with a 19:47 time. Ford and teammate Creath rounded out the top ten with 19:55 and 19:56 efforts respectively.

Seniors Melissa McClung and Hannah Ziobrowski rounded out Vassar's scoring contingent with 20:25 and 20:29 performances in their last Seven Sisters races.

“The women came in with the mindset that they wanted to win the race for a second straight year, and they won in strong fashion,” said McCowan. “The depth of our team and our focus on pack running is what brought home the title. We had people come on strongly for us, but the depth of the team is what really carried us through.”

McCowan said the team can use its repeat Seven Sisters Championship as momentum heading into the Liberty League Championships that Vassar will host at The Farm on October 29.

“Winning the Seven Sisters Championship today was not a cake walk,” said McCowan. “There are a lot of good team here, but repeating as champion does signal a new era for the program, one that we definitely plan to build on.”