It was a big weekend for Amherst’s Sophia Jacobs-Townsley and the Syracuse women’s cross country team.

Jacobs-Townsley, a redshirt senior, ran to an impressive 22nd-place overall finish at the NCAA Division 1 Northeast Region Cross Country Championships at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, N.Y., helping the Orange capture first place as a team and an automatic berth to this weekend’s NCAA Championships in Panorama Farms Cross Country Course located in Charlottesville, Va.

The women’s race will begin at 10:20 a.m., airing on ESPNU.

Jacobs-Townsley traversed the 6-kilometer course at Regionals in 20 minutes, 27.2 seconds. Syracuse had four of the top 22 finishers in the event, taking first place with 98 points. Boston College was second with 109 points, followed by Providence in third place (137).

Jacobs-Townsley, who was also 38th at the ACC Championship on Oct. 27, finished 139th at the 2022 NCAA Championships. 

High schools

All-star games

Over a dozen local athletes earned invites to high school field hockey and volleyball All-Star games, with both the Massachusetts High School Field Hockey Coaches Association (MHSFHCA) and International Volleyball Hall of Fame announcing the rosters for their prestigious events. 

Three athletes will compete in the MHSFHCA's Best 60 All-Star games; the pair of field hockey games will take place at Nashoba High School on Sunday at 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. 

Western Mass. will have representatives in both contests – Smith Academy’s Cat Kokoski will compete for Team Orange in the 10 a.m. contest while both Frontier’s Hailey Hutkoski and Northampton’s Emily Lippiello will suit up for Team Navy in the second game. 

Eleven local athletes were also named to the International Volleyball Hall of Fame’s 11th Western Mass. Girls Volleyball All-Star Showcase. There will be a first team game and a second team game that will both take place on Tuesday, Nov. 21 at Holyoke Community College. 

The second-team All-Star game will play first at 6 p.m. with the first-team match after at 7:30 p.m. Both contests are three-set matches. 

Amherst and Frontier led Gazette schools with four representatives each – Amherst’s Lauren Joy and Liza Beigel were both named to the first team while Ruby Austin and Talia Sadiq were chosen for the second team. Frontier’s Allie Pierce, Caroline Deane and Gabby Adams were all named to the first team while teammate Kate DeMaio earned a nod for the second team. 

Belchertown sent two players to the All-Star game, with Ava Shea representing the Orioles on the first team and Christina Santiago playing on the second team. Easthampton’s Kayley Downie also earned a spot on the second team.