EAST COAST CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP — COMPLETE RESULTS
ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Roberts Wesleyan University placed five runners among the top eight finishers en route to a first place showing at the 2022 East Coast Conference Women's Cross Country Championship held this morning on the Roberts Wesleyan campus.
Daemen University produced the individual champion and the runner-up, and placed second among the eight teams competing. It marked the second-straight year that the Wildcats have placed second at the event, and fifth time they have placed second since joining the league in 2013.
Roberts Wesleyan totaled 26 points and ran its conference-record streak of consecutive championships to eight straight. Daemen posted a 37 points, its best team score at the ECC Championships in program history—topping the mark of 44 set last year. Daemen entered today's race ranked No. 2 in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division II East Region poll, while RWU was ranked No. 3 in the region. Saint Thomas Aquinas College placed third with 76 points, while Molloy (109) and Queens College (142) rounded out the top-five.
Daemen's Kassandra Nolet (Fort Erie, Ontario) crossed the finish line first among the 71 runners with a time of 18:42.3. As a result of her first-place finish, Nolet becomes the first runner from Daemen to be named ECC Runner of the Year. Daemen's previous best individual finisher was Mackenzie Donahue, who placed second in both 2015 and 2016. Nolet, who was voted ECC Preseason Runner of the Year back in August, finished just ahead of teammate Marcy Colca (Getzville, N.Y.). RWU followed with the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and eight finishers to claim the team title.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Daemen had four runners earn All-ECC honors today. The league awards first-team honors to finishers one through seven, and second-team honors to finishers eight through 14.
- Nolet and Colca both earned first-team all conference honors for the second-straight year. Nolet also collected second team All-ECC honors in 2019. Senior Courtney Merrill (Speedway, Ind.) and redshirt senior Hannah Thomas (Cheektowaga, N.Y.) finished ninth and tenth respectively and earned second team all-conference.
- Nolet posted the second fastest 5K time of her career today and knocked 16 seconds off her season-best time of 18:58.2 she posted at the Daemen Alumni Invitational back in September. It marked the fifth top five finish of the season for Nolet, and her first individual championship this season after placing second to Colca in three races this year.
- Colca, who became just the third freshman in program history to earn first-team all conference honors last year, repeats as a first-team selection after placing second to Nolet with a time of 18:44.9. She knocked 10 seconds off the time she posted at last year's ECC Championships (18:54.9) and came just four seconds shy of equaling her personal best time for a 5K (18:40.8) she posted earlier this year at the Daemen Alumni Invitational. Colca has now finished first or second in five of Daemen's six races this season.
- Merrill collected second-team All-ECC honors for the second-straight year after placing ninth with a time of 19:45.4. It marked the fifth top-ten finish of the year for Merrill.
- Thomas collected All-ECC honors for the first time in her two-year career after placing 10th with a personal best time of 19:46.3—eclipsing her previous best time of 20:01.6 by 15 seconds.
- A total of 12 runners took part in the race for the Wildcats today
- Freshman Patsy Oberholzer (Greece, N.Y.) narrowly missed earning All-ECC honors, as she placed 15th overall and third among freshmen with a time of 20:03.4.
- Junior Camryn Bailey (Geneva, N.Y.) placed 16th at the event for the second-straight year with a time of 20:15.0.
- Junior Emma Grzebinski (West Seneca, N.Y.) and sophomore Emma Cain (Lockport, N.Y.) both posted a top-25 finish today. Grzebinski placed 19th with a time of 20:35.3, while Cain finished 23rd (20:51.8).
- Sophomore Haley Hinds (Bossvale, N.Y.) placed 28th with a time of 21:24.7, while freshmen Hayley Pizur (Grand Island, N.Y.) and Kennedy Pino (Spencerport, N.Y.) finished 40th and 43rd respectively with times of 22:38.2 and 22:53.8. Pino's time was a personal best for a 5K. Senior Keagan Carroll (Woodbridge, Va.) placed 47th with a personal best time of 23:59.0.
Daemen is now idle until Nov. 19 when it heads to Farmingdale, N.Y. to take part in the NCAA Division II East Region Championships.
Daemen University features the premier NCAA Division II athletics program in the Buffalo-Niagara region, sponsoring 17 intercollegiate teams. For the latest information on Daemen Athletics, follow the Wildcats via social media on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, or sign up to receive customizable news alerts, e-mail newsletters and weekly schedule alerts.
Follow the Daemen women's cross country program on Twitter and Instagram at @DaemenXCTF.