Boen brings total to 60 Coach of the Year awards
USTFCCCA Announces 2018 NCAA Division II Cross Country Regional Award Winners
Boen talks with senior captain Riley Dowd after the NE10 Championship |
EASTON, Mass. (November 26, 2018) – The Stonehill College women's cross country's head coach Karen Boen has been named the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches' Association (USTFCCCA) East Region Men's and Women's Coach of the Year, as announce by the organization on Tuesday.
Boen, who is in her 22nd season in charge of the Skyhawks, has totaled 60 Coach of the Year awards, 13 of them being women's East Region Coach of the Year honors. She led the women's team to their 17th NE10 title and 10th-straight crown this fall. She saw nine of the 14 Skyhawks earn All-Conference honors, including junior Anna Lastra (Bridgton, Maine/Fryeburg Academy) who won the program's fourth-straight individual NE10 title, as Emily Knox '18 won last year and Nicole Borofski '17 won the previous two years. This was the third time in Conference history that a program saw four-straight individual titles, with Springfield College leading the way with six-straight from 1987-92
The women punched its ticket to the program's 19th-straight trip to the NCAA Division II Cross Country National Championship after winnings its 15th NCAA Division II East Region Championship, five points ahead of Roberts Wesleyan College. This is the program's eighth title in 10 years, as all seven runners earned All-East Region honors for just the fourth time in program history.
On the men's side, the Skyhawks tallied six top-five team results, including two runner-up marks. The first at the Kutztown Division II/III Challenge in mid-September and the second at the NE10 Championship. Stonehill merely missed the NE10 title as they finished with 57 points overall, as Southern Connecticut State University took home their first title in program history with 50 points. The Skyhawks saw four make All-Conference teams, including senior Lucas Taxter (Readville, Massachusetts/Xaverian Brothers) who was the individual runner-up at the 10-kilometer race.
Boen chats with NE10 women's individual champion Lastra following the NE10 Championship |
Two weeks later, the men's squad claimed its fifth East Region title in program history with 52 total points, 11 points ahead of second place American International College. Once again Taxter was the runner-up, as six of the seven runners earned All-East Region accolades. This was the team's 16th-straight ticket to the NCAA Division II Championships.
Last year, Boen saw the fourth year that she tallied both the men's and women's NE10 Coach of the Year Award in cross country, the other years include: 2013, 2012, 2011, and 2004. Boen's success extends beyond the conference level, however, she has also collected East Region Coach of the Year Honors for all six teams. Overall, her resume includes 60 NE10 and East Region Coach of the Year Awards, 35 NE10 Championships, and 18 East Region Championships across the six teams she is in charge of. Boen, who was inducted into the Stonehill Hall of Fame in 2014, has overseen the development of 51 All-Americans and four fellow Hall of Fame inductees.
With the two teams' top-three finish, the Skyhawks will now appear in their 18th-straight, for women, and 16th-straight, for men, appearance in the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships. The race will take place on Saturday, December 1 at the Bob O'Connor Golf Course at Schenley Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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