HOPKINTON, N.H. – It was a top-ten performance for Bentley University's Julia Morena (Boylston, Mass./Tahanto Reg. HS) as the senior finished eighth overall during the 2016 NCAA Division II Women's Cross Country East Regional Saturday at Hopkinton State Fairgrounds.

Morena posted a 6,000-meter time of 22:05.3 and missed out on a trip to the NCAA Championships by three places and about 20 seconds.  She improved on last year's performance by ten places and 16 seconds.

As a team, Bentley finished fifth among 28 teams with a score of 203. Stonehill College claimed the team championship (48) and the Falcons also finished behind Assumption College (90), Roberts Wesleyan (113) and Daeman College (159). The top three teams qualified for the NCAA Division II Championships.

Bentley's number two runner was freshman Paige Fehskens (Wareham, Mass./Wareham HS). She was sixth among freshmen, placing 29th overall in 23:03.2.

The next three Falcons finished within ten seconds of each other with junior Courtney Loughnane (Canton, Mass./Canton HS) 56th (23:40,1), junior Marianne Bartolotta (Wantagh, N.H./ Holy  Trinity HS) 58th (23:42.0) and senior Mary Leach (Peabody, Mass./Peabody Veterans HS) 64th in 23:49.9.

Stonehill's Nicole Borofski was the individual champion as she finished 26.3 seconds in front of American International's Pascaline Jerotich with a time of 20:57.5.