FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
STANDISH, Maine - The Emmanuel College women and Norwich University men were victorious on Saturday afternoon at the 2015 GNAC Cross Country Championships, which was hosted by Saint Joseph's College of Maine.
On the women's side, the University of Saint Joseph (Conn.) junior Kaneen Gomez-Hixson was the individual winner with a time of 19:59 and was named GNAC Women's Runner of the Year. Emmanuel freshman Margaret McCaffrey finished second overall (20:08) and was named the 2015 Rookie of the Year, while her head coach Tony DaRocha was named GNAC Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year.
For the men, freshman Korey Leonard led Norwich to the team title, finishing first overall with a time of 28:09. For his performance, he was named the Men's Runner and Rookie of the Year, while his head coach Nicholas Cooper collected GNAC Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year honors, as voted upon by his peers.
The coaches also voted host Saint Joseph's (Maine) as the recipient of both the Men's and Women's Cross Country Institutional Sportsmanship Awards.
First, in the women's race, five Emmanuel runners placed in the top 18 overall to help the Saints slip past Simmons College, which finished as the runner-up with 64 team points. Johnson & Wales University finished third with 75 points, Norwich University – the 2014 GNAC Champion – placed fourth with 80 points and Saint Joseph's College rounded out the top five with 130 team points.
Simmons senior Kara MacLean (Braintree, Mass.) placed third (20:27) out of 115 participants, Norwich junior Chapel Gaurnieri (Pepperell, Mass.) – the 2014 individual champ – was fourth (20:34 – 15 seconds faster than her 2014 time), and Saint Joseph's graduate Heather Eaton (Lincolnville, Maine) capped the top five individuals with a 20:38 performance.
Overall, University of Saint Joseph was sixth (134 points), Lasell College placed seventh (197), Suffolk University was eighth (235), Anna Maria College finished ninth (262) and Mount Ida College rounded out the docket with a 10th-place finish (305).
For the Monks, freshman Sarah Curtin (Strafford, N.H.) placed 13th (21:14), first-year Lauren Lecompte (Lewiston, Maine) finished 39th (22:42), freshman Maureen Herlihy (Walpole, Mass.) was 40th (22:43), junior Kristina Schelling (Pelham, N.H.) finished 70th (25:03) and junior Jill Keimach (Scarborough, Maine) placed 71st (25:07). Juniors Marisa Lundy (Merrimac, Mass.) (25:52, 82nd) and Meghan Fullarton (Windham, Maine) (32:35, 110) also participated in the 2015 conference championship.
In the men's race, Norwich marched to their eighth GNAC Championship as the Cadets placed all five of their runners in the top eight overall – and seven in the top 10 – en route to claiming the 2015 conference title by a wide margin, as runner-up Johnson & Wales University finished with 67 points. Lasell College placed third with 84 points, Emmanuel College was fourth with 92, and Saint Joseph's College closed out the top five teams with 128 points.
Leonard was seven seconds ahead of runner-up Adam Sachs (Ellicott City, Md.), a junior standout from Johnson & Wales. Norwich freshman Brody Hale (Naugatuck, Conn.) was third with a 28:24 time, Emmanuel junior Ian Chamenko (Beacon Falls, Conn.) placed fourth with a 28:28) effort, and Cadets first-year Cameron Connelly (Panama, Neb.) rounded out the top five with a 28:29 performance.
Suffolk University (190 points, sixth), Rivier University (206, seventh) and Mount Ida College (231, eighth) capped the group of participating institutions.
For the Monks, sophomore Lucas Fisher (Strafford, N.H.) placed sixth (28:41), freshman Andrew Force (Lancaster, N.H.) finished 37th (31:25), senior Andrew Caron (Gardiner, Maine) was 38th (31:39), freshman Avery Liotta-Henderson (Waterbury, Conn.) placed 43rd (32:40) and senior Taidghe Hagan (Reading, Mass.) was 44th (32:48). Senior Connor Dufour (Augusta, Maine) (47th, 33:35) and junior Nick Shuckrow (Winslow, Maine) (49th, 33:40) also competed for St. Joe's in the GNAC Championship.
Courtesy of Saint Joseph's of Maine Athletics Communications.
