Complete Results

CLEVELAND – Senior Kerrin Epstein (Moravia, N.Y./Moravia) closed out her collegiate cross country career with a strong performance at the NCAA Division III Championships, finishing among the top 20 percent of the field Saturday morning at Highland Park Golf Course.

Epstein kept to her plan of running a patient, strategic race and finished 54th among 279 runners at the national meet, which was hosted by Baldwin-Wallace College. She was timed at 23:09.9 for the hilly and muddy course while turning in the lowest finish by a Gettysburg women's cross country runner at the NCAA Championships since Kristin Roberts '02 finished 52nd in 1998.

While much of the field took to a fast pace right from the start, Epstein stayed back and ran from behind, passing runners throughout the entire race. She was around the middle of the pack at the midway point before opening up a kick, passing around 20-25 runners in the final 800 meters.

Epstein was the fourth finisher from the Mideast region, placing behind Centennial Conference champion Emily Lipman (24th, 22:39) of Haverford College, Kim Powell (47th, 23:05) of Dickinson College, and Laura Paulsen (53rd, 23:09.1) of Johns Hopkins University. Epstein finished two seconds ahead of Mideast champion Jenn Cronin of Lebanon Valley College.

Wisconsin-Eau Claire won the team title with 171, beating out St. Lawrence University by nine points. Wendy Pavlus of St. Lawrence was the individual champion, finishing in 21:28.

Epstein's performance capped a magnificent senior season in which she won two races and earned All-Centennial Conference and All-Mideast Region honors by placing fifth at the conference meet and third at regionals. Her finish at regionals was the best by a Gettysburg women's cross country runner in 26 years.