STANDISH, ME - Saint Joseph's cross country Head Coach Ray Putnam has announced his team awards for the 2011 campaign. Most Valuable and Most Improved honors have been given to deserving members from both squads.
The 2011 Most Valuable Runner honors have gone to a pair of freshmen: Amber Dostie (Standish, Maine) for the women and Joe DiSalvo (Derry, N.H.) for the men. Senior Andrew Mockler (Saco, Maine) and junior Ashley Condon (Sumner, Maine) have claimed the Monks' 2011 Most Improved Runner accolades.
Dostie enjoyed one of the finest seasons ever recorded by an SJC female runner, having posted three top finishes and a runner-up performance in her first collegiate campaign. Dostie paced the Royal Blue in all seven meets in which she competed and recorded the second-fastest 5K time in program history with a 19:32 effort in her first NCAA meet - the Rivier College Invitational on September 23rd. She went on to claim GNAC Runner and Rookie of the Year accolades after winning the conference meet with a 19:45 time and collected three GNAC Runner of the Week accolades and a trio of GNAC Rookie of the Week honors during her first college season.
DiSalvo placed as the top SJC runner in four events and was the second Monk to cross the finish line in three other competitions last fall. The first-year runner recorded four top-10 finishes and placed seventh with a personal-best 27:53 time in the 8K Rivier College Invitational on September 23rd. DiSalvo was selected as the GNAC Rookie of the Week on September 12th and listed on the GNAC Weekly Honor Roll on September 26th, October 3rd and October 10th.
Mockler ran in seven events and saw improvement in nearly every race as a senior. He began the season with a 38:33 performance in the UNE Invitational on September 10th and capped the year, and his career, with a personal-best 29:56 time in the 2012 NCAA New England Championships on November 12th. His effort in the NCAA regional event was the only sub-30 time of his collegiate career, which included 28 meets over four seasons.
Condon has steadily improved over three seasons of collegiate cross country and her junior campaign was the best so far. She placed as the top St. Joe's runner in the UNE Invitational on September 10th, was the #2 SJC finisher in two meets and third in four others and finished 25th overall in the GNAC Championship with a career-best 22:28 5K effort at Franklin Park in Boston on October 29th. Condon capped the 2011 campaign with another personal-high - a 26:02 time in the 6K NCAA New England Regional on November 12th.