WALTHAM, Mass. – After posting the highest finish by a Division II student-athlete in the New England Women's Cross Country Championships since 2006, Bentley University junior Tara Dooley (Lee/ Lee HS) has been named the Women's Cross Country Athlete of the Week in the Northeast-10 Conference.

This is the third time this year and the sixth time in her career that Dooley has earned weekly accolades from the NE-10.

Dooley toured the 5,000-meter Franklin Park course in 17:28.95 to finish third behind a pair of Division I runners, Rosa Moriello of Boston University and Eimear Black of Bryant University. She was the first Division II student-athlete to the finish line for the third straight year, having previously finished sixth in 2012 and 28th in 2011 in her first-ever cross country race.

 Dooley's season has also included second-place finishes in both the Dartmouth Invitational and the Central Connecticut State Invitational.

Bentley graduate student Amy Varsell (Burlington, Conn./Lewis S. Mills HS), the only other Division II student-athlete to earn All-New England honors, was selected for the Northeast-10 Weekly Honor Roll, as was Falcon junior Ashley Nichols (Kenmore, Wash./Inglemoor HS).

Varsell, competing in the New Englands for the first time, finished 15th in 17:58, and Nichols was 92nd in 19:02, an improvement of nine places over her 2012 performance.

Dooley, Varsell, Nichols and the rest of the Bentley women's cross country team will return to action Oct. 27 when the Northeast-10 Championships are held at Saint Anselm College.