STANDISH, ME – Saint Joseph's sophomore Danielle Cusack (Portland, ME/Deering) won the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Championship with a 20:53 time in the 5K meet held at St. Joe's on Saturday.
With the individual effort Cusack, a first-year runner, earned dual conference honors as the GNAC Runner and Rookie of the Year, accolades given annually to the individual champion and top first-year finisher, respectively. She is just the fifth individual in GNAC Women's Cross Country history to collect both awards.
Johnson & Wales University collected team honors with 54 points, 12 ahead of runner-up St. Joe's (66 points). Emerson College placed third with 83 points, Emmanuel College was fourth (103) and St. Joseph (CT) finished fifth (124). Lasell College (136), Norwich University (143), Albertus Magnus College (221), Mount Ida College (237) and Suffolk University (259) rounded out field of competing programs. Rivier College and Pine Manor College also participated, but neither team scored in the event.
Individually, Emerson's Heather Hoglund '13 (Groton, MA) finished nine seconds off Cusack's pace with a 21:02 performance to earn runner-up honors and Laura Furfaro '13 (North Warren, NJ) of Johnson & Wales placed third with a 21:06 effort. Norwich's Mallory Clark '13 (Homer City, PA) (21:14) and Julie Pattyson '14 (Seymour, CT) (21:24) of St. Joseph (CT) rounded out the event's top five runners.
Emerson College Head Coach John Furey was selected as the 2010 GNAC Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year. The honor, which is Furey's second top coach award, was voted on by conference head coaches prior to the start of the meet.
For the Monks, Katie Murphy '11 (Baileyville, ME) earned a ninth-place finish with a 21:50 effort to collect her fourth All-Conference honor in as many years. Laura Mills '13 (Mattapoisett, MA) finished 17th (22:51), Ashley Condon '13 (Sumner, ME) was 19th (22:55) and Christina Meehan '11 (Nashua, NH) rounded out the SJC top five with a 20th-place (22:58) performance.
For Johnson & Wales, the women's team win is the program's fourth and first since the 2003 campaign. The Wildcats are now tied with Emerson for the most women's team titles (4) in GNAC meet history.
Cusack is just the second Monks' female runner to post a sub-21-minute time at the SJC course. Sarah Willis '08 notched a 20:49 at the 2006 NCAA Independents Meet.
2010 GNAC Women's Cross Country All-Conference Team (Top 10 Finishers):
