AMHERST, N.Y. - The Daemen College women's cross country team was rewarded for a solid performance in their last outing, breaking into the top 10 of the
U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) NCAA Division II Regional Rankings for week three of the 2015 season. Daemen, which has been unranked in the previous two Regional Rankings, debuted at No. 6 in the East Region when the announcement of this week's rankings was made today.
The Wildcats, under the direction of first-year head coach
Paul Lagno, were impressive in
last Saturday's Harry F. Anderson Invitational hosted by Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, N.Y. Daemen placed three runners in the top-10 finishers of the 5K race, ultimately compiling just 104 points to finish third in the meet's final team standings, out of 20 competing teams, prompting their ascension into the rankings this week.
Today's announcement marks the first time ever that Daemen has been included in the Regional Rankings. Daemen is competing in its first season as a full NCAA Division II member.
"It's nice to see the team get some recognition in the polls after a great performance this past weekend," Lagno said. "It's pretty early in the season to get too hung up on results or rankings, but I think that we are moving in the right direction as a team. We'll get back to work over the next few weeks and hopefully we can make some noise in late October and early November."
Daemen was paced in their most recent outing by junior
Mackenzie Donahue (East Aurora, N.Y./East Aurora) who broke her own school record for the 5K distance. Donahue, who subsequently was named
East Coast Conference Runner of the Week, completed the course in 18:19.0 to top her previous mark (18:29.2) by just more than 10 seconds. She was followed by junior
Hannah Rice (East Aurora, N.Y./East Aurora) whose personal-best time of 18:50.0 was good for seventh place, and sophomore
Amy Trabert (Amherst, N.Y./Amherst) who also set a personal-best (18:56.6) to finish in ninth place.
Lagno's squad is one of four East Coast Conference teams to be included in the East Region rankings this week, joining Roberts Wesleyan (No. 2), Saint Thomas Aquinas College (No. 5) and Long Island University Post (No. 8). Northeast-10 Conference affiliate Stonehill College topped the poll for the fourth time this season, including the preseason rankings released in August.
USTFCCCA Regional Cross Country Rankings are determined subjectively by a single member foach in each respective region. The NCAA Division II East Region is comprised of teams from the East Coast Conference, Northeast-10 Conference and Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference.
