Women’s cross country put together an incredible performance on Saturday, finishing first out of 11 teams at the NESCAC Championships in Waterford, Conn. This win marked their sixth consecutive conference title. Their tournament-low tally of 32 points was 37 points clear of second-place Middlebury, representing the lowest team total for the Ephs at a conference championship in over a decade.
The Ephs’ top four runners all finished within two seconds of each other. Kate Tuttle ’28, last year’s top finisher at NCAAs, led the way with a fourth place finish in 21:12.5, immediately followed by Morgan Eigel ’27 in fifth, Tamar Byl-Brann ’27 in sixth, and co-captain Kate Swann ’26 in seventh. “It was pretty unheard-of,” Byl-Brann said of the result. “This year has just been very consistent. There’s so much depth, and everyone is so fast and almost all in the same spot.”
The Ephs made a concerted effort to focus on their team strength in the race, according to Swann. “A big focus for this race was pack running, so sticking together, looking for the cow print on our jerseys,” she said. “I think this is a very unique year. I’ve never been on a team where we don’t have the same first runner every race.”
Five Ephs placed in the top 10 of the race, with co-captain Charlene Peng ’26 filling out the team’s scorers with a 10th place finish and a time of 21:26.8. Co-captain Fiona Picone ’26, who finished 13th, also garnered All-NESCAC honors alongside her top-ten finishing teammates. No other team in the race had more than two runners ahead of Picone, who finished sixth for the Ephs.
The team’s dominance against solid NESCAC competition has them excited for nationals. “We come from a very strong conference, so being able to perform so well is pretty exciting, considering a lot of the teams we were up against are also nationally ranked, so it’s a nice boost of confidence,” Byl-Brann said.
With only two meets left to go in their season, the Ephs’ consistently impressive team running is a clear indication of their dedication and drive for the sport.
An individual sport like cross country has the potential to be isolating, but the Ephs’ team culture was essential to their collective success. “We are on a team that is so supportive and caring,” Eigel said. “[And although] there is bound to be competition between teammates because it’s such an individual, time-based sport, I think that has faded into the background a lot.”
“You can feel it at races from the people that are injured driving the three hours to support us anyway, or when the men’s team stops their cooldown to cheer us on,” she continued.
Being a nationally-ranked team comes with the connotation of an intense environment, but the Ephs are a supportive group, Eigel explained. “There’s a cross country community that is very earnest and really wants us to do well without an undercurrent of ‘I wish I was there,’” she said.
Eigel commended Swann for the dedication she and her fellow co-captains have put into the team. “Now that [the team is] very close friends with Kate and sees everything that she, Charlene, and Fiona do on a weekly basis to keep the wheels on this bus, it’s very impressive,” Eigel said.
Next, the Ephs gear up to continue their undefeated season at the NCAA Regional Championship on Nov. 15, hoping to move forward to the final meet of their season, NCAA Nationals, the following weekend.
“We have an incredibly strong team, and that is going to help us do well at nationals, and that’s helped us do really well over the course of this season so far,” Eigel said.
