Senior captain Chelsea Bishop finished fourth overall today, helping Stonehill attain its fifth straight East Region title. |
Skyhawks headed to 14th consecutive NCAA DII National Championship
BOSTON, Mass. (November 10, 2013) – The Stonehill College women's cross country team, ranked 22nd in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division II poll, and ranked first in the East Region, earned its 14th consecutive NCAA Division II National Championship berth, by finishing first among 26 squads en route to its fifth straight East Region title, and 12th in program history, today at Franklin Park.
Stonehill, which won the Northeast-10 Championship two weekends ago with a dominant 35 point effort, was nearly as impressive today, capturing the East Region title with 57 points. Bentley University placed second in team scoring with 105 points, followed by Merrimack College (149 points), Saint Michael's College (157 points), and Adelphi University (177 points).
Senior captain Chelsea Bishop (Suffield, Conn./Suffield) was Stonehill's top finisher for the fifth time this season, as she placed fourth overall in 22:23.2. Classmate and fellow captain Emily Regan (Hanson, Mass./Whitman-Hanson Regional) secured her third top ten finish of the season today, as the senior crossed the finish line two spots behind Bishop in sixth, at 22:45.8.
Freshman Nicole Borofski (Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth North), who was recently named the Northeast-10 Conference Rookie of the Year, was the third Skyhawk to finish today, as she placed 11th overall and clocked in at 23:06.7. Following Borofski was senior Elizabeth LaRegina (New Fairfield, Conn./New Fairfield), who finished 14th after completing the six kilometer course in 23:13.8. LaRegina opened her 2013 season with an individual title at the Shacklette Invitational on September 7th.
Junior Brittany Venturo (Taunton, Mass./Coyle & Cassidy) finished 22nd overall in 23:23.9 to wrap up Stonehill's 2013 All-Region performers. Bishop, Regan, Borofski, LaRegina, and Venturo each earned All-East Region honors for finishing in the top 25 of today's meet. Both Bishop and Regan have had success at the East Regional in the past, with Bishop winning All-Region honors in 2011 and 2012, and Regan earning the accolades as a freshman in 2010 and again last season.
Stonehill's final two participants today were junior Emily Anderson (Manchester, Conn./Manchester), and freshman Aisha McAdams (North Kingstown, R.I/North Kingstown). Anderson placed 27th, clocking in at 23:44.6, while McAdams finished 38th with a 23:59.7 mark.
Head coach Karen Boen, an 11-time Northeast-10 Women's Coach of the Year, attributed Stonehill's success today to her squad's team-first attitude. "Every year is a different dynamic, a different group of kids. There's something to be said for kids that are willing to run for a team, not just to run for an individual title, and I think that's what our women do", Boen said. "Chelsea Bishop said to me one year that she's never nervous on the line because there's such a tough group of women standing beside her, and she knows someone will get it done on that day."
These Skyhawks will have one more opportunity to run together this season, as Stonehill will be competing in the NCAA Division II National Championship in Spokane, Washington in two weekends. For the second time in three years, the Great Northwest Athletic Conference will serve as host of the DII National Championship. The event will take place the weekend of November 21-23 at the Plantes Ferry Athletic Complex in Spokane.
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