Anderson and Brady crack top 100, women's cross country places 26th at NCAA DIII Championships

ELSAH, Ill. -- The Elizabethtown College women's cross country team had one final race on its schedule for 2017; the NCAA Division III National Championships. Despite the rainy and windy conditions, Maria Anderson, Kelsey Brady, and Colleen Kernan turned in career-best 6k times and helped the Blue Jays to a 26th-place finish out of the 32-team field. Anderson and Brady were both in the top 100 runners.

The seven selected to compete for Elizabethtown had a combined ten national championship races worth of experience between them heading into Saturday's race. The most experienced Blue Jay runner at the national level was Anderson, making her fourth appearance at NCAAs. Her times improved over the course of the three national championship races and Saturday made it a fourth for the senior.

In her final collegiate XC race, Anderson left it all on the course and turned in the best 6k time of her four-year career at E-town. The Newark, Del. native broke the 22-minute mark for the very first time and took 65th overall out of 279 runners in 21:58.00 to lead the Jays.

Brady, the Landmark Conference's runner-up and two-time All-Mideast Region, was next to cross. She was 85th, ten seconds off Anderson's pace, at 22:08.70. The time was also a 6k career best for the Council Rock South grad in her third championship race.

Kernan's fastest NCAA championship race time was 23:37.3, set last season where she finished 262nd. On Saturday, Kernan kicked it into another gear for Elizabethtown. Also a three-time participant at the national level, counting Saturday's race, Kernan broke 23 minutes for the first time in her career and took 191st in 22:53.50.

Brenna McNamee was the fourth runner for the Jays to finish. She was 219th at 23:06.60. Kaitlin Donahue was right behind her in 23:08.30, which was 221st.

Alexis Groce, who ran for E-town at the 2013 national meet, was back on the big stage for the Blue Jays after a solid XC campaign this season. She was 234th in 23:16.60. Samantha Gehly competed at her first national meet and was 276th in 24:38.50, less than four seconds off her career-best 6k time.

Johns Hopkins won the Division III national championship for the fourth time in five years.

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Players Mentioned

Maria Anderson: 5' 3"; Junior

Kelsey Brady: 5' 3"; Junior

Colleen Kernan: 5' 3"; Sophomore

Brenna McNamee: 5' 4"; Junior

Alexis Groce: 5' 6"; Junior

Maria Anderson: 5' 3"; Senior

Kelsey Brady: 5' 3"; Senior

Alexis Groce: 5' 6"; Graduate Student

Colleen Kernan: 5' 4"; Junior

Brenna McNamee: 5' 4"; Senior

Players Mentioned

Maria Anderson
: 5' 3"; Junior

Kelsey Brady
: 5' 3"; Junior

Colleen Kernan
: 5' 3"; Sophomore

Brenna McNamee
: 5' 4"; Junior

Alexis Groce
: 5' 6"; Junior

Maria Anderson
: 5' 3"; Senior

Kelsey Brady
: 5' 3"; Senior

Alexis Groce
: 5' 6"; Graduate Student

Colleen Kernan
: 5' 4"; Junior

Brenna McNamee
: 5' 4"; Senior