JOPLIN, Mo. - Daemen College cross country star Mackenzie Donahue (East Aurora, N.Y./East Aurora) competed today at the NCAA Division II National Championships held at the Tom Rutledge Cross Country Course, finishing in 69th place out of 247 competitors.  By competing today, Donahue makes history as the first Daemen student-athlete in any sport to compete in an NCAA Division II national championship event.

Conditions on the course were tougher than expected as temperatures stayed below 40 degrees with a brisk wind chilling the participants even further.  Despite the unideal conditions, Donahue completed the winding and hilly 6K course in 21:55.6.  That time was 13 seconds off the school-record pace (21:42.46) she set at the NCAA Division II East Region Championships in Hopkinton, N.H. on November 8, finishing in third place there out of 186 competitors to qualify for today's national championship race as an individual.

"Mackenzie ran extremely tough today," said first-year Daemen head coach Paul Lagno.  "She put herself in the mix right away in the first mile.  In a field this large and competitive, it can be very overwhelming as an individual in your first national championship.  I'm very proud of how composed Mackenzie stayed throughout the race.  I have no doubt that she'll be back next year fighting for an All-American spot."

University of Mary (N.D.) sophomore Alexis Zeis won the race today with a time of 20:03.4.  Zeis just edged Grand Valley State University's Kendra Foley, a junior, who came in second place after finishing just three-tenths of a second off the pace (20:03.7).

Adams State University (83 points) took home national championship honors among the 32 competing teams at today's event.  ASU, located in Alamosa, Colo., stopped the three-year reign of Grand Valley State who finished as the runners-up today with 97 team points.  ASU placed four of its five scorers in the top 20 finishers to pull out the victory.  East Region teams Stonehill College, Roberts Wesleyan College and Saint Thomas Aquinas College finished 14th, 30th and 31st respectively.

The race today concluded a stellar junior season for Donahue who collected five top-10 finishes in eight races.  She opened the season by finishing as the race runner-up, behind teammate Hannah Rice, to help Daemen win as a team at the Le Moyne Alumni Short Course Invitational, a 4K race on September 5.  Donahue's season took off at the Harry F. Anderson Invitational on September 26, finishing as the runner-up after completing the 5K course in a school-record time of 18:19.0.  The following week, at the Mike Woods Invitational hosted by SUNY Geneseo, Donahue broke her own 6K school record with a time of 22:14.5 to finish in 12th place.  On October 17, Donahue finished eighth at the Canisius Alumni Classic, a race that featured 129 competitors and half of the 10 teams invovled were NCAA Division I affiliates.  Then came the East Coast Conference Championships on October 24 where Donahue went under 18 minutes in a 5K for the first time in team history, running the race in 17:44.31, finishing as the race runner-up and helping Daemen to a runner-up finish in the team standings.  Her placement there earned her first-team All-ECC honors and set her up for success at the regional championship meet which came two weeks later.

Donahue's performances highlighted a solid season for the Wildcats as a whole.  Lagno's squad was ranked in the regional polls for much of the season, and ultimately finished fourth at the regional championship, missing a team berth to today's national championship race by just 18 points.  And, the future looks bright as the team will lose just one senior, Brooke Nolan (Depew, N.Y./Depew), to graduation.

"Today was a big step for our program," Lagno said post-race.  "To have an individual competing at nationals in our first year is a great accomplishment, but I think we have a lot more left in the tank.  I know the team is chomping at the bit to get back into training with the goal of next year's championship already in mind."