Hannah Rice (left) and Amy Trabert (right) have combined for nine top-10 finishes in their career; they return as Daemen seeks its first ECC title in 2016

Women's Cross Country 8/23/2016 2:25:00 PM

Women's Cross Country Picked Third In ECC Preseason Poll

2016 ECC WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY PRESEASON POLL
Rank	School	Pts.	2015 ECC Championship Finish
1	Roberts Wesleyan (8)	70	1st of 10
2	St. Thomas Aquinas	55	3rd of 10
3	DAEMEN	51	2ND OF 10
4	LIU Post	41	4th of 10
5	NYIT (1)	39	5th of 10
T-6	Molloy	23	7th of 10
T-6	Queens	23	6th of 10
8	Bridgeport	17	8th of 10
9	District of Columbia	14	9th of 10
( ) - first place votes

AMHERST, N.Y. - With its top four runners from last season returning, the Daemen College women's cross country team has been picked to finish third in the East Coast Conference this year, according to the ECC preseason poll which was released today from conference headquarters in Central Islip, N.Y. following a vote of the league's nine head coaches.

Daemen (51 points) was one of three teams to receive over 50 points in the poll, falling four points shy of second-place Saint Thomas Aquinas College (55 points). The third-place ranking is the highest ever for Daemen in the ECC preseason poll since joining the league back in 2013. The Wildcats, led by second-year head coach Paul Lagno, finished as the runner-up at last season's ECC Championship after being voted fifth in the 2015 ECC preseason poll.

"I am really looking forward to the season, and glad that our student-athletes have arrived here for preseason training," said Lagno. "We fell just short of our collective goal last season which was to advance to the national championship meet as a team. With the caliber of athletes we have returning and with some of the newcomers plugged in there, I think that goal remains the same. If all goes as planned, we should be able to put ourselves in contention for a strong finish at both the conference and regional championship meets."

Roberts Wesleyan College topped the voting with 70 points, accounting for eight of the nine first-place votes. The Redhawks return six of the top-19 finishers from last fall's conference championship meet as they seek their third straight ECC title.

Long Island University Post earned 41 points to sit in fourth, while N.Y. Institute of Technology grabbed the final first-place vote, finishing in fifth place with 39 points. Molloy College and Queens College tied for sixth place with 23 points apiece, and University of Bridgeport (17 points) and University of the District of Columbia (14 points) round out the poll.

In addition to releasing the preseason poll, the conference office also announced that NYIT's Sarah Jerotich has been tabbed the ECC Preseason Runner of the Year. Jerotich returns to the Bears after crossing the finish line first at the ECC Championship last fall with a time of 17:37.5, just edging out Daemen's Mackenzie Donahue (East Aurora, N.Y./East Aurora) for ECC Runner of the Year honors. Donahue set a new team record in the 5K distance (17:44.31) to finish as the individual runner-up.

Donahue went on to establish a new team record in the 6K distance (21:42.46) at the NCAA Division II East Region Championship two weeks later, finishing in third place to become Daemen's first-ever NCAA Division II National Championship qualifier. She returns for her senior season, as does Hannah Rice (East Aurora, N.Y./East Aurora) who missed 2015 ECC Championship with an injury, only to return at the regional meet to help the Wildcats finish fourth in the team standings there. Also back is junior Amy Trabert (Amherst, N.Y./Amherst) and senior Brittany Denton (Oakfield, N.Y./Oakfield-Alabama) who combined to post six top-15 finishes last season, including running eighth and twelfth respectively at the ECC Championship to each garner second-team All-ECC honors.

Daemen opens its 2016 season on September 3 at the Le Moyne Short Course Invitational, marking the third straight season in which the event has served as the Wildcats' season opener. The ECC Championship is slated for October 22 on the campus of Roberts Wesleyan in Rochester.

For breaking news and continuing coverage of the Daemen women's cross country team, follow @DaemenAthletics and @DaemenXC on Twitter.

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Players Mentioned

Brittany Denton: 5' 3"; Senior

Mackenzie Donahue: 5' 2"; Senior

Hannah Rice: 5' 5"; Senior

Amy Trabert: 5' 3"; Junior

Players Mentioned

Brittany Denton
: 5' 3"; Senior

Mackenzie Donahue
: 5' 2"; Senior

Hannah Rice
: 5' 5"; Senior

Amy Trabert
: 5' 3"; Junior