From NYU Athletics

The New York University women's cross country team has seemingly punched its ticket to the NCAA Division III National Championship. Producing a second-place finish at the NCAA Niagara Regional on Saturday, the 20th-ranked Violets are all but assured of qualifying for next Saturday's national championship race in Lansing, MI.

The winning team (SUNY Geneseo) receives an automatic bid to nationals, but NYU's second-place finish is expected to result in an at-large bid.

"We made sure we did what we needed to do in order to qualify," said Head Coach Tyler Deck Shipley. "It was our strategy to run intelligently, run together and assure a second-place finish. And, that's what we did."  

NYU's outstanding performance on Saturday included four runners finishing among the top 20, with the fifth coming in at number 25. The team's 79-point total was second only to Geneseo's 18 and well ahead of third-place Ithaca College's 155.

Senior Grace Richardson cracked the top-10, finishing in ninth place with a time of 22:50.7 over the 6K Genesee Valley Park course in Rochester, NY.

"Grace ran a steady race throughout," Deck Shipley explained.

Not far behind was freshman Janie Cooper, who took 11th place (22:52.7). NYU's other top-20 runners were senior Leah Haley (15th place, 22:57.8) and freshman Daniela Sekhar (19th place, 23:26.6).

NYU's fifth scorer, senior Hannah Martin, placed 25th in a time of 23:41.2.

Overall, 24 teams and 166 runners competed.

"We built a resume throughout the year and greatly improved after our eighth-place finish last year," Deck Shipley added.