Head Coach Karen Boen has both the men's and women's cross country teams competing at the NCAA Division II Championships in Indiana this weekend. |
Stonehill women, men return to cross country national meet
By Jim Fenton
ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
EASTON - The Stonehill College cross country teams have become regular visitors to the NCAA Div. 2 Championships in November.
Seven members of both teams are in Evansville, Ind., for the national meet, which is hosted by Southern Indiana University, on Saturday afternoon.
It marks the 10th straight year the women are in the NCAAs and the seventh consecutive year for the men.
Karen Boen of Stoughton, who coaches the men's and women's teams, was named the Div. 2 East Region coach of the year by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. She was also the Div. 2 East Region women's coach of the year for the eighth time.
The women's team qualified by winning the East Regional race in Boston on Nov. 8 with Erin Carmone, one of four freshmen headed to the nationals, leading the way.
Carmone, who won the regional individual title, was named the Div. 2 East Region women's athlete of the year by the USTFCCCA.
Freshman Erin Carmone, the USTFCCCA Division II East Women's Athlete of the Year, leads a strong underclass team for Stonehill. |
She sat out most of the season with an injury that occurred in the first meet in August, then battled an illness.
Carmone was second in the Northeast-10 Conference meet, won by the Skyhawks, and first in the regional race.
"I was hoping she'd be our No. 1,'' said Boen. "Her best 5,000 time in high school was 19:07 and she ran 18:23 here.''
Lynley Joynt, Jessica Jarrard and Kristen Veit are the other freshmen who will represent Stonehill at the NCAAs.
"We recruited really hard last year,'' said Boen of the strong freshman class. "We were hoping it would work out and it did. A lot of times with freshmen, you never know. But this is a gritty group.
"I think it helps that there's so many of them. They didn't feel like they were just add-ons to the team. We have nine freshman on the team, and when you bring a group like that in, they can all relate to each other and compares themselves to each other.''
Sophomore Jill Alves of Whitman earned all-region honors for the second year in a row after finishing eighth at the East Region race in 23:18.2.
The Whitman-Hanson Regional High graduate earned All-Northeast-10 Conference honors two straight seasons and was 155th at the NCAA meet last season.
Junior captain Daniel Pilz heads an experienced men's squad back to the course where they won the Pre-National Invitational last month. |
"She's just so solid,'' said Boen. "She is just a steady runner. When the gun goes off, you know she'll do something for you every time out.
"She's been more consistent this year. She was starting to run out of gas at this time last year, but she is much better at that this year.''
The other runners competing for Stonehill in Indiana will be juniors Lindsey Booth and Kelly O'Toole.
Ranked No. 17th in the national poll, the Skyhawks finished 22nd at the NCAA meet a year ago.
"We'd like to be in the top 20,'' said Boen. "But when you bring freshmen to the nationals, you just don't know. I think we have the talent to be in the top 15, but I don't know if we have the experience.''
The men's team will be represented by junior Kevin Gill of Brockton, junior Patrick Fullerton, senior Josh Andrews, sophomore Stephen Polito, junior Dan Pilz, junior Ben Rumery and freshman Ethan Penney.
Stonehill, ranked 11th in the country, finished second in the East Region race to UMass-Lowell.
Gill led the Skyhawks by finishing fourth out of 180 runners in 31:18.6 on the five-mile course. He was also second at the NE-10 meet that Stonehill won.
"Kevin's been fabulous this season,'' said Boen. "He had a bumpy start because he wasn't feeling that well, but it actually paid off because he hasn't overaced this season.
"He really wants to be an All-American. That is his goal. This is the best I've seen him run. He ran 25 seconds faster at Franklin Park than he did last year.''
Gill, who was 76th at the NCAAs as a freshman and 78th last season, has earned All-America status in track at Stonehill.
Boen said that Andrews has put together his most consistent season and that Fullerton and Polito have been steady.
An illness has slowed the Skyhawks throughout the season, but they are this is the time of year when everything falls into place and they can improve on last season's 16th-place finish.
"We have yet to race all seven of our top runners,'' said Boen. "We are hoping it all comes together this week. I think, man-for-man, this is one of the most talented teams we've had. We you get to the national level, it's how bad you want it. You're just going to have to be ready to fight.''
