Sacred Heart
Northeast Conference Championships
Pioneers Repeat at Northeast Conference Championships
11/1/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
NEW BRITAIN – Five Pioneers placed in the top thirteen to earn All-Northeast Conference honors as the Sacred Heart University women's cross country team repeated as NEC champions for the first time in program history at Stanley Quarter Park on Saturday morning. The five All-NEC selections was the most in program history, surpassing the previous best of four set in 2008 and 2013, as Sacred Heart was thirty points clear of second place Bryant who finished 43. The championship is the third in program history as SHU also won in 2005.
"I'm humbled and proud to be the coach of this group of young women," said head coach Christian Morrison. "There are no blue chip recruits on this squad. It's just a group of athletes who have done everything right along the way, and have developed to their full potential because of it. No shortcuts and no excuses. Nothing but love for their teammates, consistency of training, and clean living."
Senior co-captains Emma Bolduc and Elizabeth Hutchins led the way as the two both ran personal best to finish back-to-back in third and fourth place. Bolduc set a new program record at Stanley Quarter Park and tied a personal best as she crossed the line in 17:36.3.
"The race today exceeded all of my expectations, including the girls' attitudes and efforts," Bolduc said. "We raced hard and finished without any regrets. I wanted to go out with a bang for myself, my fellow seniors, and the rest of the girls on the team, and that exactly what we did."
Hutchins finished four seconds later with a personal best of 17:40.8, improving on her previous best by 22 seconds. With the times, Bolduc and Hutchins moved into third and fourth on Sacred Heart's All-Time 5k list, as Kimberly DeLoreto and Brianna Castrogivanni are the only two SHU runners with faster finishes.
"I couldn't be more happy with the outcome and with how the girls raced today," said Hutchins. "Everyone put their heart on the line."
For the second consecutive year Shannon Hickey placed 11th to earn All-NEC honors. The junior ran the course in 18:15.77 to move into fifth place for the fastest SHU time ever at Stanley Quarter Park. The next two Pioneers to cross the line earned their first career All-NEC honors as Tara Connelly and Jennifer Hahne placed 12th and 13th. Connelly was the second freshman to finish the event as she bested the program record for fastest 5k by a freshman at Stanley Quarter Park with a time of 18:16.84. DeLoreto set the previous record in 2007. She became just the 7th Pioneer freshman in program history to receive the accolades. Hahne crossed the finish line in 18:19.37 as she improved on her time from earlier in the year by eleven seconds.
Outside of the top five, multiple Pioneers also set new personal best at the race. Alexandra Kaeslin, Kelly Quinn, and Katie Svensen bested previous performances to place 22nd, 27th, and 28th, respectively. Rounding out the remainder of the field was Molly Barker and Meghan Hutch who finished in 31st and 34th in the field of eighty.
The average time of Sacred Heart's top five runners, 18:01.82, was a new program record. The previous best was 18:07.31 at the New England Championships in 2012. Further, they improved on the average time of 18:20.92 they recorded in the Ted Owen Invite at Stanley Quarter Park on September 27.
With the championship, Sacred Heart qualifies for the NCAA Northeast Regionals held at Van Cortlandt Park in Bronx, N.Y. on Friday, November 14. Last season, SHU finished 18th in the 37 team field.
Notes
- Sacred Heart has run at Stanley Quarter Park more than 20 times in program history and with today's performance, SHU's top five runners all moved into the top seven for fastest times at the track:
1) Bolduc, 17:36.30
2) Hutchins, 17:40.80
3) Kimberly DeLoreto, 2010, 17:42.2 *
4) Katherine Wrinkle, 2002, 18:02.4 *
5) Hickey, 18:15.77
6) Connelly, 18:16.84
7) Hahne, 18:19.37
*DeLoreto and Wrinkle were individual NEC cross country champions during their career.
- The top 9 finishers all bettered their times from earlier in the season when they ran on the Stanley Quarter Park course on September 27th. Here is a list of the improvements from the race earlier in the year:
Bolduc – 5 seconds improvement
Hutchins 38 seconds
Hickey – 8 seconds
Connelly – 35 seconds
Hahne – 11 seconds
Kaeslin – 12 seconds
Quinn – 43 seconds
Svensen – 1:43
Barker – 28 seconds
- All 10 SHU runners finished in the upper 42% of the race field of 80 finishers.
- In 16 years of NEC Cross Country Championships, the women have never failed to place at least one athlete on the "All-NEC" team.
Players Mentioned
