MEDFORD, MA (November 19, 2025) – Coming off a victory at the NCAA East Region Championship last Saturday, the Tufts University women's cross country looks to continue its momentum as the Jumbos head to the NCAA National Championship on Saturday.
Tufts put together its best race of the season at the Regional, compiling a team score of 51 to defeat an MIT team (61) that had won three straight Regional titles and was ranked #3 in the USTFCCCA national poll. The victory earned the Jumbos an automatic berth to Nationals.
Championship Meet Details
2025 NCAA Women's Cross Country Championship
Date: Saturday, November 22, 2025
Time: Women's Race at 11:00 AM
Location: Roger Milliken Center in Spartanburg, SC /
Women's 6K Course Map
Live Coverage:
LIVE VIDEO /
LIVE RESULTS
"The women's team has been very diligent and persistent through the season," said Director of Tufts Track & Field and Cross Country
Jamie Norton said. "Earlier in the season we felt like we were capable of performing at a higher level than we showed in a lot of the races. We started to close that gap at (the Connecticut College Invitational) and at NESCAC's, and obviously we saw that really come together for us at the Regional meet."
All seven Tufts runners placed in the top 25 at the Regional. Senior
Liz Donahue led the Jumbos in fifth place, sophomore
Zoe Margolies was 11
th, first-year
Zui Chinchalkar finished 12
th, first-year Lilly Simmonds ran 13
th and junior
Katya Henisz crossed the finish line 15
th to round out the five Jumbo scorers. Junior
Deirdre Flanagan in 19
th and sophomore
Samara McVey in 24
th also had strong races.
The expected line-up for the Jumbos at Nationals on Saturday will be Donahue, Chichalkar, Flanagan, Henisz, Margolies, junior
Sonia Olson and Simmonds. Sophomore
Phoebe Bryar and McVey will travel as alternates.
Donahue, Henisz and Margolies have NCAA race experience, competing with last year's Tufts team that was 16
th nationally. However, Coach Norton and the staff think that the competitive nature of the season so far will benefit a young Jumbo line-up.
"We've been tested in really difficult environments before," Coach Norton said. "Over half the teams at Nationals we've already competed against at the Conn College Invite. I think that will have prepared us well."
This is the 14th NCAA team berth for Tufts overall and second in a row. Between team and individual berths, Tufts has had representation at the NCAA race every year since 2002. A ninth-place finish by the Jumbos in 2021 was the program's sixth top-10 finish overall. Coach Norton and the staff see potential to add to that list.
"The performance at the Regional was a testament to the strength and depth of this group," he said. "Our depth has really shone through for us, and that continues to be the goal. With that we hope to maybe punch up into the top 10 at Nationals."
Along with the stiff competition, the Jumbos will face the challenge of running at Nationals in a warmer climate. The 2025 NCAA Championship Race will be held at the Roger Milliken Center in Spartanburg, South Carolina, where temperatures are forecasted to be in the 70s on Saturday, warmer than the brisk late-fall conditions that the NCAA race has typically seen. Race times were set earlier for this reason, with the women's race beginning at 11:00 AM.
"We had a very warm fall here," Coach Norton said. "We ran multiple races on 70-plus maybe even 80-plus degree days. I think we're ready for it. It might slightly change our execution. You have to be a little more patient sometimes in the heat. We're aware of it and we're preparing as best we can for it. It's going to be the same for everyone, with the majority of teams from cold climates."
Historically at the NCAA Women's Championship, a fifth by the Tufts team in 2006 and seventh-place efforts in 2015 and 2017 are the program's best.
--JUMBOS--
