WESTFIELD, Mass. – Saint Joseph's College finished 22nd with 708 points in the 2014 ECAC DIII Cross Country Championship at Stanley Park on Saturday. Senior Amber Dostie (Standish, Maine) led the Monks with a 24:08 effort and placed 56th out of 338 participants in the 6K race.
For Saint Joseph's, senior Heather Eaton (Lincolnville, Maine) finished 66th (24:23), sophomore Marie Harrington (Limerick, Maine) was 175th (26:28), junior Grace Dancoes (Falmouth, Maine) placed 214th (27:21) and junior Riley Jones (Winslow, Maine) took 250th (28:04) Sophomores Kristina Schelling (Pelham, N.H.) (268th, 28:39) and Marisa Lundy (Merrimac, Mass.) (321st (31:46) also competed in the annual event.
St. Joe's placed as the top-finisher from the GNAC, as the Royal Blue finished one spot (and just two points) ahead of Johnson & Wales University. Dostie and Eaton were the top two GNAC runners in the event as well.
Saint Joseph's closes out the 2014 season next Saturday with an appearance in the NCAA DIII New England Championship, which will take place at Mt. Greylock High School in Williamstown, Massachsetts.
ECAC RELEASE:
The Williams College men's and women's cross country teams swept both ECAC Division III Cross Country Championships Saturday afternoon at Stanley Park in Westfield, Massachusetts. The men's team out-ran 51 other teams to capture their second consecutive title, while the women beat out 56 squads to claim their first crown since 2008.
The Ephs used four top-14 finishes to defeat runner-up, University of New England, by 12 points on the women's side. Three other NESCAC schools rounded out the top five with Middlebury College taking third place with 85 points and Tufts College (109 points) and Trinity College (178 points) earning fourth and fifth place, respectively.
Freshman Rebecca Delacruz-Grunderson (Lake Forest Park. Wash.) led the way for Williams, taking home the individual championship with a time of 22:15.27. Senior Anna Spiers (Chester, Va.), sophomore Michelle Buncke (Lake Osewgo, Ore.) and junior Meg Richardson (Iowa City, Iowa) also put together stellar performances for the Ephs. Spiers crossed the finish line fifth with a time of 22:20.59, while Buncke claimed 11th with a time 22:47.62 and Richardson finished 14th with a 6K of 22:57.58. The University of New England earned three spots in the top-six, with Tiana Thomas (Waterville, Maine) and Brittney Sorbello (Dover, N.H.) finishing second and third respectively. In a dramatic finish, Thomas finished just tenths of a second behind Delacruz-Grunderson, while Sorbello recorded a time of 22:18.28.
On the men's side, Williams snagged four top-12 finishes, including two in the top five to edge second place, Tufts College, by 14 points. Three other NESCAC schools rounded out the top-five. Amherst College finished third with 111 total points, followed by Colby College with 117 total points in fourth place. Bates finished with 123 points to finish in fifth place.
Amherst's Steven Lucey (Villanova, Pa.) claimed the individual title, covering the 8K-course in a time of 27:37.40. The Ephs were led by junior Todd Ford (Glenview, Ill.), who crossed the finish line third with a time of 25:49.72. Sophomore Noah Williams (Norwich, Vt.) was next to complete the course for Williams, earning a fourth place finish with a time of 25:52.26. Senior Andrew Beaudoin (Dedham, Mass.) and freshman Griffin Colaizzi (Alexandria, Va.) were also vital in Williams' success, coming in back-to-back with 11th and 12th place finishes respectively.
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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.
