Cass Garners All-East Region Honors, Advances to NCAAs

CONTOOCOOK, N.H. -- Bridgewater State University junior Naomi Cass (Westport, Mass.) is headed back to the NCAA Division III Women's Cross Country Championships.

Cass qualified for a second straight appearance in the national race by finishing sixth at the East Region Championships at the Hopkinton State Fairgrounds on Saturday morning.

Cass will finish the season at the NCAAs next Saturday at the LaVern Gibson Course in Terre Haute, Ind.

Senior Lily Valcovic (East Taunton, Mass.) was the only other BSU runner to officially finish the 6-kilometer race, placing 56th out of 232 competitors.

MIT won the team championship with 56 points followed by Tufts University (67) and Bates College (147). MIT automatically qualified for the NCAA DIII Championships.

Cass finished in 22:05.72 after placing 10th in 2023 with a time of 22:23.42. It was nearly a 30-second personal-best for the Bears' outstanding harrier.

She covered the first two kilometers in 7:17.12 and was at 14:38.98 through four kilometers.

Graduate student Rachel Brennan (Lynn, Mass.) of Gordon College was the individual winner in 21:43.31 followed by junior Elizabeth Donahue (Reading, Mass.) of Tufts (21:51.97) and junior Ella Whinney (Madison, Wis.) of Wellesley College (21:52.69).

Cass took part in the 2023 NCAAs in Newville, Pa., and was 145th out of 293 runners with a time of 22:49.6.

A year ago, she became the first BSU runner to qualify for the NCAAs since Molly Rouillard did so in 2012. The BSU Athletics Hall of Famer was seventh at the East Region race and 50th at the nationals that year.

Cass was selected the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Women's Runner of the Year for the second straight season this fall.

She won the conference race by 25 seconds, finishing the 5-kilometer race in 18:31.89 to become the first repeat winner in the MASCAC by a Bears' runner since Rouillard.

Valcovic finished Saturday's race in a personal-best time of 23:51.59, opening with a time of 7:45.23 in the first two kilometers and was at 15:42.77 heading into the final two kilometers. Valcovic broke the 24-minute mark for the first time in her career.

A year ago, Valcovic was 94th with a time of 24:36.93.

Framingham State University was the first MASCAC team in the East Region standings.