Senior captains Chelsea Bishop, Sarah Biggers, and Emily Regan will look to guide Stonehill to its fifth consecutive East Region title on Sunday. |
Skyhawks looking to book 14th consecutive trip to NCAA DII Championships
EASTON, Mass. (November 8, 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 attempt to capture its fifth consecutive East Regional Championship and guarantee its 14th straight trip to the NCAA Division II Championships this Sunday at Franklin Park in Boston, Mass.
Stonehill, which is hosting this Sunday's meet, won the Northeast-10 Championship two weekends ago in Manchester, N.H. with a dominant 35 point effort in which its top five runners all set personal best times. Five Stonehill athletes earned All-Conference accolades, freshman Nicole Borofski (Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth North) was named the conference Rookie of the Year, and head coach Karen Boen won her 11th Women's Coach of the Year Award.
On Sunday, Stonehill will again look to senior captain Chelsea Bishop (Suffield, Conn./Suffield) to set the pace for the rest of the team. Bishop has been Stonehill's top finisher in all four of the races that she has competed in this season, and she finished third overall at the NE-10 Championship, completing the five-kilometer course in 18:04. Bishop has had success at the East Regional in the past, earning All-East Region honors in 2011 and 2012 as she finished 13th and 11th, respectively.
Classmate and fellow captain Emily Regan (Hanson, Mass./Whitman-Hanson Regional) will be aiming for her third top-10 finish this season, as she came in 7th place at the Codfish Bowl on September 28th and fifth overall at the NE-10 Championship. Like Bishop, Regan is a two-time All-East Region selection, having earned the honors with an eighth place finish in 2010 and 15th place finish last season.
Stonehill will also be counting on a trio of freshmen, Aisha McAdams (North Kingstown, R.I./North Kingstown), Alexandra Buonfiglio (Lynnfield, Mass./Lynnfield), and Borofski to help carry the Skyhawks to their fifth regional title in as many years.
McAdams was named the Northeast-10 Rookie of the Week following her seventh place finish at the NE-10 Championship, as she was the first freshman to complete the course. Borofski placed ninth with a time of 18:47 in the same race, and she went on to earn NE-10 Rookie of the Year honors. Buonfiglio was the final Skyhawk to earn points in the conference championship race, coming in 24th with a time of 19:18.
Junior Emily Anderson (Manchester, Conn./Manchester), who earned All-East Region honors last season with her 17th place finish, will look to replicate that performance on Sunday, following her 22nd place finish at the NE-10 Championship.
Lastly, senior captain Sarah Biggers (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Lakeland) and classmate Elizabeth LaRegina (New Fairfield, Conn./New Fairfield) are two Skyhawks to keep an eye on this weekend. Biggers has earned All-East Region honors each of the past two seasons, and LaRegina has been impressive all year, winning the Shacklette Invitational to open the season and placing fifth overall at the Codfish Bowl.
With a top-3 finish on Sunday, Stonehill would advance to its 14th consecutive NCAA Division II National Championship. For the second time in three years, the Great Northwest Athletic Conference will serve as host of the DII National Championship. The event will take place the weekend of November 21-23 at the Plantes Ferry Athletic Complex in Spokane, Washington.
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