HOPKINTON, N.H.— The Babson College women's cross country team equaled its best finish in program history with a 16th place showing out of 37 schools at the NCAA East Region Championships on Saturday morning at the Hopkinton Fair Grounds.

The 16th place matched the previous top team standing at the regionals accomplished in 2022, and the Beavers' 444 points is better than the previous program best of 490 points achieved two years ago. Top-ranked MIT finished with 56 points to capture the team title over runner-up Tufts (67 points) to secure an automatic bid to next Saturday's Division III Championship meet.

Junior Chloe Clifford (Marshfield, Mass.) led the Beavers with a 67th place finish among the 183 runners, finishing the 6K race in 24:20, just nine seconds off her career best. Senior Ali Thomas (Vero Beach, Fla.) was next across the line for the Green and White, coming in 91st place in 24:59, and junior Alexandra Kirkpatrick (Middleboro, Mass.) finished in 102nd, timing in at 25:12.

First-year Sophia Draxler (Montclair, N.J.) had a solid performance, finishing 111th in 25:23 and classmate Annabelle Svenson (Montclair, N.J.) rounded out the scorers for Babson with a 124th place in 25:38. Rounding out the Beaver finishers was senior Eujin Shin (Rochester Hills, Minn.) in 163rd place in 27:14.