BROOKVILLE, N.Y. - Junior Mackenzie Donahue (East Aurora, N.Y./East Aurora) broke her own school-record time for a 5K race to lead the Daemen College women's cross country team to a runner-up finish at the East Coast Conference Championships held this morning on the campus of Long Island University Post.

Daemen accumulated just 58 points in the team standings, but were edged ever so slightly by Roberts Wesleyan College (56 points) for the ECC crown, RWC's second-straight.  Daemen entered today's race ranked No. 5 in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division II East Region poll, while RWC has been ranked No. 2 in the region for the last several weeks.

Sarah Jerotich of N.Y. Institute of Technology paced the field today with a time of 17:37.54.  Right behind here was Donahue who completed the course in 17:44.31, shattering her previous school record time of 18:19.0 set earlier this season at the Harry F. Anderson Invitational (September 26).  It marked the third time this season that Donahue has set a new school benchmark, and the second time she's done so for the 5K distance.

Today's performance also marked Donahue's third runner-up finish of the season, and her fourth top-10 finish of the year. The 5-foot-2 junior has now totaled 14 top-10 finishes in 18 career races.

For her efforts today, Donahue earned first-team All-ECC honors.  The league awards first-team honors to finishers one through seven, and second-team honors to finishers eight through 14.  It's the third-straight year with an all-conference honor for Donahue; she was a second-team All-ECC performer in each of the last two seasons.

Picking up second-team All-ECC honors today was Daemen sophomore Amy Trabert (Amherst, N.Y./Amherst) and junior Brittany Denton (Oakfield, N.Y./Oakfield-Alabama).  Trabert finished eighth overall with her personal-best time of 18:40.02.  Denton also set a new personal benchmark, going sub-19 minutes for the first time in her career, finishing in 12th place with a time of 18:58.97.  Denton shaved more than 40 seconds off her previous best time (19:41.3) set earlier this season at the Harry F. Anderson Invitational.

Rounding out Daemen's scorers today was senior Brooke Nolan (Depew, N.Y./Depew) and junior Morgan Urbanek (Webster, N.Y./Webster Schroeder).  Nolan finished in 16th, just out of all-conference contention, with her time of 19:32.32, while Urbanek came in 20th with a time of 19:59.32.

Daemen raced today without the services of junior Hannah Rice (East Aurora, N.Y./East Aurora) who missed the event with an injury.  Rice has consistently been among Daemen's top-three finishers all season, and throughout her three-year career.

The second-place finish in the team standings today matched Daemen's best-ever showing at the ECC Championships.  The Wildcats had previously finished as the runner-up in 2013, its first season in the league.

Daemen's season continues on Sunday, November 8 at the NCAA Division II East Region Championships in Hopkinton, N.H.