INDIANAPOLIS – Suffolk women's cross country's 2025 story will continue in South Carolina next weekend, as the Rams earned the program's first-ever berth to the NCAA Cross Country Championships.
To be eligible to participate in the national championships, teams and individuals had to qualify in their respective regional championships held over the weekend or receive an at-large bid.
Sunday's selection announcement finalized the field of competition for the national championship meet with 22 squads chosen via at-large qualifications to add to the 10 teams that punched their tickets as regional meet winners on Saturday. Additionally, 70 individuals, the first seven student-athletes from the 10 regions who are not a part of a qualifying team, were chosen to participate on the championship course as well.
It is the first time in program history that Suffolk will compete as a team at the national championship and the Rams women are the first-ever Conference of New England (CNE) squad to earn a place as a team at NCAAs in the league's history.
Saturday will be the sixth time that the University will be represented at NCAA DIII Cross Country Championship as three individuals have combined for five trips with the most recent being Tim Barry, who donned the blue-and-gold on the national stage in 2023. Emily Manfra is the only female Ram to run on the national championship course in program history and did so twice in 2018 and 2019.
A couple weeks removed from a fifth consecutive CNE Crown, Suffolk followed up that performance by breaking even more barriers on Saturday in the Granite State at the NCAA DIII East Regional Championships. The Rams ran to a program-best fourth-place performance to edge out No. 27 Bowdoin, who placed fifth, and add more to its case for an at-large proposal.
At regionals, Tess Drury (ninth), Sofia Moukaddem (14th) and Amy Pattelena (20th) claimed two all-region recognitions each – one from DIII New England Association, which is awarded to top-20 finishers, and one from U.S. Track & Field Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), which is handed out to top-35 performers – to pace Suffolk's pack to the record-setting finish.
The upperclassmen trio look to lead Suffolk's seven student-athletes at the 2025 NCAA Division III Women's Cross Country Championships will be held at the Roger Milliken Center in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Saturday, Nov. 22. Competition will air live on NCAA.com.