CASTILE, N.Y. - The Daemen College women's cross country competed in the Mike Woods Invitational today, an event hosted by SUNY Geneseo at Letchworth State Park. The Wildcats, who broke into the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) NCAA Division II Regional Rankings earlier this week, finished 11th today out of 32 competing teams, accumulating 353 points in the final team standings.
Host SUNY Geneseo placed all five of its scorers in the top 16 finishers to sit atop the team standings today with just 56 points. The Knights were paced by fourth-place finisher Olivia Ryan who completed the 6K course in 21:56.1. Saint Lawrence University took team runner-up honors, but the Saints boasted the top two individual finishers in the race. Megan Kellogg went home as the race victor with a time of 21:34.5 while her teammate Lisa Grohn finished second (21:49.9).
In no surprise, Daemen was paced by its usual trio of
Mackenzie Donahue (East Aurora, N.Y./East Aurora),
Hannah Rice (East Aurora, N.Y./East Aurora) and
Amy Trabert (Amherst, N.Y./Amherst). For the second-straight week, Donahue broke her own school record, finishing the race today in 22:14.5 to come in 12th place overall out of 453 competitors. She had previously set the program's benchmark for the 6K distance (22:39.8) at this same event last season. Donahue, the reigning
East Coast Conference Runner of the Week, set the school record for the 5K distance (18:19.0) at last weekend's Harry F. Anderson Invitational.
Rice and Trabert were neck-and-neck to the finish line. Rice came in 41st overall with a time of 22:56.6 while Trabert was on her heels in 42nd place with her time of 22:57.6. The combination of Donahue, Rice and Trabert has now finished as Daemen's top three, in one order or another, for six consecutive races dating back to last season.
Rounding out the Wildcats' scorers today was junior
Brittany Denton (Oakfield, N.Y./Oakfield-Alabama) and senior
Brooke Nolan (Depew, N.Y./Depew). Denton finished 115th overall, besting more than three-quarters of the invitational field, with her time of 24:12.2. Nolan was next at 143rd overall with her time of 24:31.7.
In addition to Donahue setting the new school record, Rice, Trabert and Denton all recorded personal-bests for the 6K distance today.
All-in-all, it was another strong showing for the Wildcats. Coach
Paul Lagno's squad is currently ranked
No. 6 in the NCAA Division II East Region according to the USTFCCCA Regional Rankings released earlier this week.
Daemen is back in action next Saturday, October 10 at the Hamilton Invitational in Clinton, N.Y.
