After hosting the NCAA Division III East Regionals for the third straight year, Suffolk University cross country once again found themselves making history as the women’s team ran to a program-record fourth-place finish, ultimately ending in them qualifying for the NCAA Championship for the first time in program history.
Coach Will Feldman described the moment in the Ridgeway building when the women’s cross country team found out they were going to Nationals as a team.
“We’re all still trying to process the emotions. We’ve been on eggshells since yesterday anxiously finding out if we were going to make the trip down to nationals or not,” said Feldman. “I was jumping for joy when I found out and there was a moment of disbelief where I just sat down on the floor wondering what was happening.”
Leading the women’s team, sophomore Tess Drury had herself a record-breaking day in her first regionals appearance as she qualified for nationals individually. Drury, finishing in ninth place of the 214-runner field, ran a time of 21:45.2, eclipsing the program record previously held by Emily Manfra.
In 2019, Manfra placed 14th with a time of 21:47.3, meaning Drury broke the 6-year-old record by just under two seconds.
Drury’s ninth-place finish is also the best in program history for the regionals, making her the first-ever Suffolk athlete to finish in the top-10. The previous best was 14th-place, set by Manfra in 2019 and tied by Amalia Dorion last season.
Drury, focused on running her best, commented on her record-breaking performance, noting it’s something she had no idea about until well after regionals ended.
“It’s pretty cool, it’s something I wasn’t aware of but that’s awesome,” said Drury.
Three Rams placed top-20 in the women’s 6k, including Drury in ninth, Sofia Moukaddem in 17th and senior captain Amy Pattelena in 20th. Due to their top-20 finishes, these three women have earned All-New England honors from the Division III New England Association.
With this year in the books, Pattelena is just the third Ram in history to run in regionals four times. After placing 20th, Pattelena added to her successful streak of placing in the top-20 for three straight seasons.
Fellow all-CNE runners Grace Miller and Chloe Koo finished 55th and 61st respectively, giving the women five top-100 runners and cementing their spot as a top-5 team in the region.
Drury commented on her team’s performance at regionals, noting their togetherness throughout the race.
“I think we all did good. We all wanted to run as a pack together and push each other, and I think we definitely did that,” said Drury.
Initially, Miller was vying for a top-20 placement until unfortunately collapsing on the course. However, in heroic fashion, she got back up and finished the race. Feldman praised how much guts it took for Miller to keep going in that situation, noting how her getting back up ultimately ended up being the difference-maker in sending the whole team to the NCAA Championship.
“If Grace didn’t find the courage to get across the line none of this would’ve been possible,” said Feldman.
Drury agreed with Feldman, praising Grace’s efforts to finish the race when many people would’ve given up.
“Even before the race when things get hard, [Feldman] told us to think about your team and do it for them. Grace embodied that, she got up and was the difference maker for us making it,” said Drury.
Feldman credits his entire women’s team for their mentality to keep going even when things get tough, something that shone clearly through the example left on the course by Miller.
“I was thrilled with how they ran, just how tough they were and they left it all out on the course,” said Feldman.
An hour before the women took the start line, the Suffolk men’s team ran the 8k and placed 19th of the 32-team field.
The men were led by senior Hayden Green, who finished with a time of 27:12.2. Green was the men’s lone runner, placing in the top-100. Senior Sean Jacobsen finished just outside of the top-100, ending the race with a time of 27:31.4.
The women’s team will compete in the NCAA Championship Nov. 22 at the Roger Miliken Center in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Feldman assured that the women’s team isn’t just going to make an appearance; they want to make an impact.
“We took a moment to be really excited, to talk about how we accomplished something huge,” said Feldman. “We’re not happy with just going to nationals. We’re going there to compete and beat some teams.”
