17^th year head coach earns 12^th honor for women's cross country

EASTON, Mass. (November 12, 2014) – Stonehill College head women's cross country coach Karen Boen has been named the Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10) Coach of the Year, the league office announced today.

Boen led the Stonehill women's team to its sixth consecutive NE-10 Championship last Sunday at the Gates Farm Course on the campus of host school Franklin Pierce University in Rindge, New Hampshire. Seven of the 11 Skyhawks that ran posted All-Conference performances, led by sophomore Nicole Borofski (Plymouth, Massachusetts/Plymouth North), who finished second overall with a time of 24:43.0. Stonehill's seven All-NE-10 honorees were three more than the next closest squad, as Saint Michael's College had four All-Conference efforts.

Stonehill opened its 2014 campaign with a first-place finish at the Shacklette Invitational on September 6^th, and followed that effort up a week later with another victory at the Division II/Division III Challenge. On October 4^th, five Skyhawks posted personal best performances at the Paul Short Invitational in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Stonehill registered a 13^th-place finish at the New England Championships on October 11^th, before tuning up for the NE-10 Championship on October 18^th and 26^th at the NE-10 Preview Meet and Boston Athletic Association Mayor's Cup, respectively. The Skyhawks have been ranked in the top-25 nationally the entire season, reaching as high as No. 22.

Under Boen's guidance, the Stonehill women's cross country program has become the most successful in the history of the NE-10. The Skyhawks' victory on Sunday was the 13^th conference title in program history, surpassing the previous NE-10 record of 12 set by Springfield College in 1994 and matched by Stonehill last season.

Stonehill has had a stranglehold on the NE-10 Championship since 2000, winning 13 titles in 15 tries. The Skyhawks won five consecutive conference crowns from 2000-04, added two more in 2006 and '07, and have now posted a run of six straight titles from 2009-14. The only two years Stonehill did not finish first, in 2005 and 2008, the Skyhawks posted runner-up efforts.

Since taking charge of the women's cross country program in 1998 and the men's squad two years later, Boen has put together a run of success unrivaled in the NE-10. Including her award this season, she has been named NE-10 Coach of the Year a combined 17 times for men's (5) and women's (12) cross country. Boen, who also coaches Stonehill's men's and women's indoor and outdoor track & field programs, has received an additional four Coach of the Year awards for her efforts with those four teams.

Boen's success extends beyond the conference level, however. She has collected 13 East Region Coach of the Year awards for men's (3) and women's (10) cross country, and four more for indoor/outdoor track & field. Overall, her resume includes 38 NE-10/East Region Coach of the Year Awards, 23 NE-10 Championships, and 15 East Region Championships across the six teams she is in charge of. Boen, who was inducted into the Stonehill Hall of Fame last month, has overseen the development of 50 All-Americans and three fellow Hall of Fame inductees.

Stonehill, ranked No. 25 in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division II poll, and ranked second in the East Region, is off this weekend before returning to action on Saturday, November 22^nd, when the Skyhawks will attempt to win their sixth consecutive NCAA East Region Championship at Mine Falls Park in Nashua, New Hampshire.

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