Boen Named NE-10 Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year


Karen Boen earned her 13th career NE-10 women's cross country Coach of the Year award on Sunday

18th year head coach earns 13th honor for women's cross country

EASTON, Mass. (October 27, 2015) – 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 on Sunday.

Boen led the Stonehill women's team to its seventh consecutive NE-10 Championship on Sunday at Saint Michael's College in Colchester, Vermont. The Stonehill women's cross country team dominated the field Sunday afternoon, placing five runners in the top eight. Junior Nicole Borofski (Plymouth, Massachusetts/Plymouth North) led the way for the Skyhawks, completing the course in 21:48.8, 43 seconds faster than the runner up and the only female competitor to run a sub 6:00 mile. Borofski is Boen's first individual women's NE-10 Champion since Meghan Shannahan in 2002. Boen coached four girls onto the All-NE-10 first team at Sunday's event, the next closest school had one.

Stonehill opened its 2015 campaign with a runners up finish at the Shacklette Invitational on September 5th, and followed that effort up two weeks later with a victory at the Division II/Division III Challenge. On September 26th at the Ted Owen Invitational, the Skyhawks Competed in a nine-team field that included five Division I programs, Stonehill placed all five of its scoring runners inside the top-12 en route to a first place finish with a score of 35. The Skyhawks followed up its back-to-back first place finishes with an incredible showing at the New England Championships. Boen led Stonehill to its highest finish in program history at the event. The team ran to a fourth place finish in the 39-team field consisting of Division I, II, and III programs. The Skyhawks have been ranked in the top-25 nationally the entire season, reaching as high as No. 16.

The Skyhawks have been a dominant force over the past 15 years in the women's cross country field with Boen at the helm, winning 14 titles in 16 tries. The only two years Stonehill did not finish first, in 2005 and 2008, the Skyhawks posted runner-up efforts.

Last season under Boen's guidance, the Stonehill women's cross country program became the most successful in the history of the NE-10. The Skyhawks' victory at the NE-10 Championships last fall was the 13th conference title in program history, surpassing the previous NE-10 record of 12 set by Springfield College in 1994. The Skyhawks continue to build on the record, winning its fourteenth title on Sunday.

Under Boen's watch, the women's cross country team has reached national acclaim while establishing itself as one of the elite programs in the country. Now in her eighteenth season mentoring the Skyhawks, she has led them to 14 Northeast-10 Championships. Including her award this season, she has been named NE-10 Coach of the Year a combined 18 times for men's (5) and women's (13) cross country.

Stonehill, ranked No. 16 in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division II poll, and ranked first in the East Region, is off this weekend before returning to action on Sunday, November 8th, when the Skyhawks will attempt to win their sixth NCAA East Region Championship in the past seven years. The race will be held at the Hopkinton State Fairgrounds in Hopkinton, New Hampshire, and hosted by Franklin Pierce University.

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