Senior captain Chelsea Bishop, a three-time Northeast-10 All-Conference selection , heads into this Sunday's NE-10 Championship as Stonehill's top runner. |
Skyhawks ranked first in East Region, no. 22 nationally
EASTON, Mass. (October 23, 2013) – The Stonehill College women's cross country team, ranked 22nd in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division II poll, and ranked first in the East Region, will look to capture its fifth consecutive Northeast-10 Conference Championship and 12th overall this Sunday in Manchester, N.H., on the campus of host school Saint Anselm College. The women's race starts at 11 a.m., following the men's championship at 10 a.m.
Since 2000, the Skyhawks have controlled the conference championship landscape, winning 11 out of a possible 13 titles during that span. Stonehill claimed five-straight championships from 2000-2004, another pair of titles in 2006 & 2007 and have captured four straight since then, dating back to 2009.
Stonehill, which has been picked by the league's coaches as the favorite to capture the conference crown on Sunday, has been led all year by senior captain Chelsea Bishop (Suffield, Conn./Suffield.), a three-time NE-10 All-Conference selection. Bishop was named to the Third Team as a freshman in 2010, the Second Team as a sophomore in '11, and the First Team as a junior last season.
Bishop earned her first career NE-10 Athlete of the Week honor on October 1st, and has been Stonehill's top finisher in all three of the races that she has competed in this season. She posted a time of 23:02.4 at the Division II Challenge on September 14th, good for a 12th place finish in her first meet of 2013. Bishop followed that up by finishing third overall in 18:45 at the 33rd Annual Codfish Bowl on September 28th, leading Stonehill to victory as ten of the 12 Skyhawks to compete finished in the top 20.
In her most recent race, Bishop ran to a 44th place finish (18:36) two weekends ago at the New England Championships at Franklin Park in Dorchester, Mass.
Senior Elizabeth LaRegina enters this weekend with the Shacklette Invitational individual title and an NE-10 Athlete of the Week award under her belt in 2013. |
Senior Elizabeth LaRegina (New Fairfield, Conn./New Fairfield), who earned an NE-10 Athlete of the Week award for winning the Shacklette Invitational individual title on September 7th with a time of 19:20, checks in as Stonehill's number two runner. In addition to her win at the Shacklette, the senior has been the second Skyhawk to cross the finish line (behind Bishop) in two races this season. LaRegina finished fifth overall at the Codfish Bowl, clocking in at 19:10, and 62nd overall at the New England Championships, in 18:46.
Senior captain Emily Regan (Hanson, Mass./Whitman-Hanson Regional), the 2010 NE-10 Rookie of the Year and 2010 NE-10 All-Conference Third Team selection, is another Skyhawk to look out for this weekend. Regan finished 16th at the Division II Challenge with a time of 23:12.09 (second on Stonehill), and followed that up with a seventh-place finish at the Codfish Bowl (19:30). In her most recent race, Regan placed 79th at the New England Championships, finishing in 18:55.
Juniors Emily Anderson (Machester, Conn./Manchester), a 2012 NE-10 All-Conference Third Team honoree, and Erin Rielly (Burlington, Mass./Burlington), who finished fourth overall at the Shacklette Invitational, also figure to make an impact this weekend.
A trio of freshmen, Nicole Borofski (Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth North), Aisha McAdams (North Kingstown, R.I./North Kingstown), and Alexandria Buonfiglio (Lynnfield, Mass./Lynnfield) have the ability to be top-7 finishers for Stonehill as well.
Following Sunday's Northeast-10 Conference Championship, Stonehill returns to action on November 10th at the NCAA Division II East Regional Championships, held at Franklin Park and hosted by Stonehill. The Skyhawks will attempt to capture their fifth straight regional title.
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