Dostie's Impressive Debut Leads Monks in Rivier Invite

Dostie's Impressive Debut Leads Monks in Rivier Invite

NASHUA, NH - Saint Joseph's College placed fourth with 124 points in the Rivier College Invitational 5K on Friday afternoon. Freshman runner Amber Dostie (Standish, Maine) finished as the runner-up with an impressive 19:32 effort in her first collegiate cross country meet.

Dostie's time was just 16 seconds off the pace of St. Anselm runner Courtney Bennett, who toured the course in 19:16 to collect top individual honors. She was first NCAA DIII athlete to cross the finish line by over a minute as Emerson's Heather Hoglund placed 10th with a 20:43 performance.

Also, the freshman's effort ranks as the second-fastest time posted by an SJC runner in a 5K event over the past 12 seasons. Only Sarah Willis '08, who won the Dirigo Championship with a 19:26 time on October 23rd, 2004, has registered a better 5K performance. Prior to Friday's event, Willis - who had two sub-20 times as a freshman - was the only St. Joe's female to have run a 5K in less than 20 minutes since the 2000 campaign.

St. Anselm, an NCAA DII program, placed eight of the top nine runners in the meet and ran away with the team title with 19 points on the afternoon. Emerson took runner-up honors with 65 points and was followed by Suffolk (116), St. Joe's (124), Franklin Pierce (133), NHTI (133), Pine Manor (175), Daniel Webster (205) and host Rivier (218).

For the Monks, Sarah Cadorette '13 (Lyman, Maine) placed 24th (22:45), Melissa Deplanche '15 (Dover, N.H.) finished 42nd (25:29), Emily O'Connor '15 (Scarborough, Maine) ran to a 48th-place finish (26:10), and Lauren Tidd '13 (Walpole, N.H.) placed 49th (26:16).

Saint Joseph's will compete in the Keene State College Invitational on Saturday, October 1st at 11:00 AM.