College roundup: Bates’ Jillian Richardson headed to NCAA D3 track championships

Bates senior captain Jillian Richardson will represent the Bobcats at the upcoming NCAA Division III Championships in Rochester, New York.

The Auburn native earned a qualifying spot in the women’s 5,000-meter run thanks to her winning time in the event at Thursday’s MIT Final Qualifier meet.

Richardson owns the fastest time in the 5,000-meter run in the East Region for Division III this season, with her winning mark of 16:52.53 on Thursday. That time is the second-fastest in program history.

Junior Chrissy Aman will join Richardson at the meet at Rochester Institute of Technology, which begins May 25. Aman qualified for the women’s 1,500-meter run with a season-best time of 4:29.60.

USTFCCCA NAMES ALL-REGION SELECTIONS: Richardson is one of several athletes with area ties to receive all-region honors from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Other Bates athletes to be named all-region are: Aman, Abbey Otterbein, Livia Kozick, Alma Mackic, Liam Byrne, Eli Boesch Dining, Derek Shen and Ned Farrington.

University of Maine at Farmington’s Alixx Canwell also earned all-region honors thanks to his NAC title-winning and record-breaking performance in the hammer throw. Canwell is the first UMaine-Farmington athlete to earn USTFCCCA All-Region honors.

Gray-New Gloucester grad Zoe Barnes, a sophomore at University of Southern Maine, earned East All-Region honors in the shot put and discus.

All-region honors are awarded to the top five performers in each men’s and women’s track and field event and the members of the top three relay teams in each NCAA Division III region from the season-ending descending order list of performances.

COLLEGE SOFTBALL
MCKAY, TRIO HONORED: Bates College’s first-year softball coach Kat McKay has been named the NESCAC co-Coach of the Year.

McKay, who played at St. Dominic Academy, is Bates’ first softball coach to earn Coach of the Year honors, which she shares with Colby’s Terren Allen. The Bobcats won their first NESCAC tournament game and reached the semifinals as the seventh seed. They also were the only NESCAC team to beat Tufts during the regular season. Bates’ 16 wins are tied for fourth most in the softball program’s 48-year history.

Three Bates players also received postseason honors. Senior outfielder Cassidy Musco and freshman pitcher and infielder Madison Hollis both were named to All-NESCAC and all-region teams, and freshman catcher Kennedy Jones garnered all-region recognition.

Musco is Bates’ first player named to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association’s All-Region First Team since Katie Franklin in 2006. The senior from Walpole, Massachusetts, also is the program’s first NESCAC First Team selection since Kirsten Pelletier in 2020, and first position player first-teamer since Stacia Sanuik in 2009.

Musco’s 48 hits this season rank third in program history for a single season. She also led the Bobcats in hits, batting average (.403), OPS (.920) and five other offensive categories. She recorded 16 multi-hit games.

Hollis was picked for the all-NESCAC and all-region second teams. She finished the season with a 2.28 ERA and six wins, including a shutout of No. 8 nationally ranked Tufts. She also drove in 16 runs and had a .306 batting average.

Jones was selected for the all-region third team. She led the team in home runs (3) and RBIs (19) and had a slash of .320/.356/.515.

CMCC’S SCOTT, GALLAN NAMED ALL-AMERICAN: Central Maine Community College’s Olivia Scott and Olivia Gallan each received All-American honors by the United States Collegiate Athletic Association last weekend.

Scott, a sophomore from Quispamsis, New Brunswick, was selected to the First Team, while Gallan, a sophomore from South Paris and an Oxford Hills grad, earned Second-Team honors.