No. 13 Women’s Cross Country Favored to Capture Eighth-Straight NE-10 Championship

Skyhawks aim to extend NE-10 record of 15 championships

Northeast-10 Pre-Championship Coaches' Poll

Northeast-10 Championship Guide with Maps

Borofski competes in her final NE-10 Championship, coming back as the retunring champion

EASTON, Mass. (October 20, 2016) – The Stonehill College women's cross country team, ranked first in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Association (USTFCCCA) East Regional poll and 13th in the national poll seeks its eighth-straight Northeast-10 Conference Championship and 15th this Saturday, October 22 as it hosts the six-kilometer race. The women's event will start at noon, while the men kick off before at 11 a.m.

Stonehill was picked to finish first in the Notheast-10 Cross Country Pre-Championship Coaches' Poll voted on by the league's 15 head coaches with a total of 196 points. The Skyhawks, who have won the conference championship every fall dating back to 2009, received 14 of the 15 first-place votes. Assumption College (145 points) was selected to finish second with one first-place vote, followed by Bentley University (154 points), Merrimack College (145 points), and American International College (143 points).

In the fall of 2014, Stonehill surpassed Springfield College for the most women's cross country titles in the NE-10 with 13. The Skyhawks have been a dominant force over the past 16 years, winning 14 of the 16 tries. In 2005 and 2008, Stonehill was not far behind as it posted runner-up finishes to UMass Lowell both times. 

This year, the Skyhawks have posted four top-10 results out of the five meets that they participated in, including a title at the Skyhawk Preview Meet in their opening weekend and a runner-up finish at the UMass Dartmouth Invitational. The squad also tallied a third-place mark out of 41 Division I, II and III teams at the National Catholic Championship.

Stonehill will enter Saturday's championship event following the lead of senior Nicole Borofski (Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth North), a 2016 New England Champion and 2015 Northeast-10 Champion. The Plymouth, Massachusetts native has posted three top-five finishes this season, including two first-place marks at the Skyhawk Invitational and the New England Championship. Borofski ran a career-best time of 17:28.7 at the NEICAA Championship, becoming Stonehill's first New England Champion. She also placed fourth at the National Catholic Championship behind two runners from the University Notre Dame and one from Marquette University.

Senior Alexandra Buonfiglio (Lynnfield, Mass./Lynnfield) has finished in the top-10 at two meets this year including fifth at the UMass Dartmouth Invitational and sixth at the Skyhawk Preview Meet. Buonfiglio posted a time of 22:47.5 at the championship last year for a seventh-place finish.

Cyr (left) returns as the 2015 NE-10 Rookie of the Year, while Knox (right) finished 13th in last years championship

Another senior that has pushed her way through the crowd is Aisha McAdams (North Kingstown, R.I./North Kingstown), who tallied a seventh-place finish at the National Catholic Championship in the College Division with a career-best time of 18:22.8 in the five-kilometer race. McAdams has previously placed second in the six-kilometer Northeast-10 Championship with a time of 22:23.0.

Junior Emily Knox (Worcester, Mass./Notre Dame Academy) finished 13th at the NE-10 Championships in 2014 with a time of 25:56.7. This year Knox placed in the top-15 at the Skyhawk Invitational (8th) and the National Catholic Championship in the College Division (12th). Classmate Abby Hersom (Rockland, Maine/Oceanside) recorded a career-best time of 23:37 in the 6k at the Paul Short Invitational this season and finished in the top 50 in last years' Northeast-10 Championship with a time of 24:34.9.

Sophomore Makenzie Cyr (Douglas, Mass./Douglas) looks to best her fifth-place performance at last years' championship with a time of 22:44.1, as she also grabbed the Northeast-10 Rookie of the Year award. Cyr tallied a career-best time of 18:41.1 in the 5k at the National Catholic Championship earning 14th in the College Division, while also notching a career-best time in the 6k with a time of 22:25 at the Paul Short Invitational this year. Classmate Elizabeth Hannon (Franklin, Mass./Bishop Feehan) and Jillian Caiazzi (Marlborough, Mass,/Marlborough) also bring their experience to the starting line as Hannon posted an 8th-place tally and Caiazzi finished 24th at the Northeast-10 Conference Championship last season.

Along with the strong upperclassmen presence, there is a handful of freshman that have found their way to the starting line including Jordan Callahan (Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth North), Jackie Cutillo (Foxboro, Mass./Bishop Feehan), Alyssa Freeman (Billerica, Mass./Billerica Memorial), Kacie Higgins (Weymouth, Mass./Weymouth), Anna Lastra (Bridgton, Maine/Fryeburg Academy), and Danika Wayss (Warwick, R.I./Pilgrim).

Facebook Live
Portions of Saturday's championship races will be streamed live on Facebook for all fans to tune in and watch the Skyhawks remotely. Family and friends are encouraged to "like" the Stonehill Skyhawks page.

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