STANDISH, ME – Husson University captured top team honors with 61 points in the 11th Annual Runnin' Monks Invitational women's cross country 5K at Saint Joseph's College on Saturday morning.
With the top two runners and four in the top 16 overall, the Eagles nipped Emmanuel College by just five points to claim the Runnin' Monks title for the first time. Saint Joseph's placed third (71 points), Norwich University was fourth (112) and University of New England rounded out the top five participating institutions with 123 points.
Husson's Chrissy Larrabee earned top-individual honors with a 20:22 time, just two seconds ahead of her teammate, Alecia Palmer. Saint Joseph's junior Amber Dostie (Standish, Maine) was third (20:52), Emerson's Ali Dokuis placed fourth (20:55) and SJC junior Heather Eaton (Lincolnville, Maine) finished with a 20:58 time to close out the top five individual runners in the 5K event.
Larrabee is the third Husson runner to claim the Runnin' Monks Invitational title, as she joins Michelle Estes, who won the inaugural SJC-hosted event with a 23:06 time in 2003, and Angela Stauble, who took the title with a 20:37 effort in 2010.
In what was by far the largest women's race ever hosted on the SJC campus, the Monks placed four runners in the top 10 but could not crack the top two in a very competitive field that included 130 total individuals from 14 colleges and universities from around the New England region.
Previously, the largest women's race on the Saint Joseph's College campus took place on November 1st, 2008, when 102 runners participated in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Championship.
For Saint Joseph's, Dostie, Eaton and sophomore Lauren Rabideau (Ballston Spa, N.Y.), who toured the 5K course in 20:58 to finish fifth overall, all placed in the top five. Freshman Marie Harrington (Limerick, Maine) also finished near the front of the pack with a 10th-place (21:26) effort.
Junior Audrey Curry (Perry, Maine) (61st, 24:34), freshman Mikaela Rowell (Derry, N.H.) (65th, 24:43), sophomore Grace Dancoes (Falmouth, Maine) (74th, 25:19), freshman Marisa Lundy (Merrimac, Mass.) (75th, 25:21), freshman Cynthia Andrews (Seal Harbor, Maine) (91st, 26:16), junior Victoria Ramos (North Scituate, R.I.) (92nd, 26:28) and freshman Meghan Fullarton (Windham, Maine) (128th, 33:35) also raced for the Monks.
Johnson & Wales University (6th, 131 points), Emerson College (7th, 184), Lasell College (8th, 235), Johnson State College (9th, 256), Anna Maria College (10th, 261), Thomas College (11th, 327) and Newbury College (12th, 370) also competed in the 5K women's race.
University of Maine-Machias, University of Maine-Farmington and Nichols College also participated in the event but did not score.
Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 430-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.
