Women’s Cross Country Team, Dassin ’24 Qualify for National Championship

Alex Noga '23 -

This past Saturday, Nov. 12, the men’s and women’s cross country teams competed at NCAA Mideast Regional Championships at St. Lawrence University. The men’s team finished sixth out of a field of 23 teams, and Theo Dassin ’24 earned himself an individual at-large bid to the NCAA Division III Championship national finals with an 18th place finish. On the women’s side, a second-place finish, led by top-10 finishes by both Mary-Kate McGranahan ’23 and Daphne Theiler ’26, earned the whole team an at-large bid to the National Championship tournament next weekend.

Women

Competing in a field of 21 total teams, the national No. 14 women’s cross country team placed second at this past weekend’s NCAA Mideast Regional Championships. Fresh off her NESCAC individual championship two weeks ago, McGranahan paced the Mammoths with a time of 22:23.4. She improved on her third-place finish from last year’s regionals by finishing in second this year, crossing the line just 13 seconds behind this year’s winner. Theiler was not far behind her senior teammate, finishing the course in 22:48.6 for a sixth place finish, the best performance of her debut season. Both McGranahan and Theiler automatically qualified for the DIII National Championship with their top-10 finishes on Saturday.

Sophie Wolmer ’23 was the next Mammoth to cross the finish line, finishing the course in 23:19.3 and placing 16th out of 159 total runners. Rounding out the rest of the scorecard for the Mammoths was Allison Lounsbury ’26, who placed 22nd (23:34.1), and Claire Callon ’25, who scored for the first time this season with a 24th-place finish (23:39.4).

Though the Mammoths fell just short of first place, which would have secured them the region’s automatic bid to the National Championship, the team earned an at-large bid for the tournament when the field was announced on Sunday. The Mammoths will travel to Lansing, Michigan, to compete in the national finals on Saturday, Nov. 19.  

Men

The men’s team posted a solid sixth place finish out of 23 teams competing at the Mideast Regional Championships this past weekend. And like he has many other times this season, Dassin led the way for the Mammoths. He placed 18th with a time of 26:07.9, a huge improvement from his performance at last season’s regionals where he finished 40th. Dassin’s placement, as well as his consistently stellar running all season, secured him an at-large bid as an individual runner at the National Championship in Michigan next weekend.

George Cahill ’26 was the next Mammoth to cross the line, finishing 29th with a time of 26:39.5. Had four at-large teams been chosen from the Mideast Region, Cahill’s time would have qualified him for an individual at-large bid for the National Championship, but only two Mideast teams earned at-large bids (Connecticut College, Middlebury). Henry Dennen ’26 completed the course just over seven seconds later, placing 32nd (26:46.8). Will Merhige ’23 and Aidan Gemme ’26 were the final two Mammoth scorers, finishing at virtually the same time, ending with times of 27:01.8 and 27:02.7, respectively, for 38th and 39th-place finishes. Aside from Dassin, the men’s cross country season concludes with their sixth place finish at the Mideast Regionals.