By Jim Fenton

LEOMINSTER, Mass. -- Bridgewater State University junior Naomi Cass (Westport, Mass.) is once again the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference women's cross country champion.

Cass won her second straight MASCAC title, taking the 5-kilometer race in 18:31.89 in a field of 58 runners at the Doyle Conservation Center on Saturday morning.

The Bears finished second in the team standings to Westfield State University for a second year in a row. BSU had 62 points while the Owls won with 20 points for their fifth title in a row and 18th in the last 20 seasons.

Cass placed first by nearly 25 seconds over Westfield State's Tealei Chandonnet (Dracut, Mass.), who finished in 18:56.16.

A year ago, Cass became the first Bears' runner to win the title since Krysta Zbikowski in 2013. She finished last season's MASCAC race at Fort Devens in 19:10.88.

Cass became BSU's first repeat MASCAC champion and Runner of the Year since Molly Rouillard won three in a row from 2010-12.

She has been the conference runner of the week three times this season and eight times in her career.

After finishing 26th at the MASCAC Championships as a freshman in 2022, Cass became the conference's leading runner a year ago and won the title by nearly 22 seconds.

Cass will now take part in the NCAA East Region race as she bids to return to the NCAA Division 3 Championships later this month.

Joining Cass on the All-MASCAC team was senior Lily Valcovic (East Taunton, Mass.), who finished ninth in a time of 19:42.34.

It marks the second straight all-conference honor for Valcovic, who was fifth a year ago in 20:14.94. She was 18th as a sophomore in 2022.

MASCAC honors will be officially announced next week.

Senior Kate Brown (Acushnet, Mass.) was the third BSU runner across the finish line placing 18th with a time of 21:11.05.

Finishing 21st was senior Ana Imrie (Arlington, Mass.) with a wtime of 21:32.31. She was also the 21st runner a year ago.

Graduate student Lisa Jaeger (Medfield, Mass.) was 29th with a time of 22:37.86.

Valcovic, Brown and Imrie each recorded personal-best time.

Westfield State had the second-through-eight finishers behind Cass with Chandonnet followed by junior Julianne Kelly (Natick, Mass.) in 19:05.83.

Framingham State was in third place followed by Worcester State, the Mass. Maritime Academy, Fitchburg State and the Mass. College of Liberal Arts.

BSU travels to Contoocook, N.H., on Nov. 16 for the NCAA East Region meet. The NCAA Championships are Nov. 23 in Terre Haute, Ind.