On October 7, 2012, Bentley's Tara Dooley turned in an impressive performance while competing in the New England Women's Cross Country Championships at Stanley Park in Westfield.

A year earlier, Dooley caught everyone by surprise when she placed 28th in what was not only her collegiate debut, but also her first-ever cross country race.

Now recognized as one of the region's best, she improved on that performance by 22 places in the 2012 championship, finishing sixth overall with a 5,000-meter time of 17:37.92. That was an improvement of about 6.3 seconds over her clocking in the 2011 Northeast-10 Championship, held on the same course.

Dooley finished 37.13 seconds off the winning pace of Boston University's Monica Adler. The only other runners to post a faster time than her were from Boston College, the University of Vermont and Bryant University.

Dooley and senior co-captain Caitlin Fahey helped Bentley place 21st overall in the meet, best in the program's history, and third amongst Division II institutions behind Stonehill (12th) and Southern Connecticut State (18th).

Fahey finished 31st overall in 18:07.60. That was a drastic improvement of 135 places from last season, and put her fourth amongst Division II competitors.