AMHERST, N.Y. - The Daemen College women's cross country team placed 10th out of 25 schools at the 2017 NCAA Division II East Region Championship meet held today at Audubon Golf Course. The 6K race is held to determine the region's three national championship-qualifying teams, as well as three national championship-qualifying individuals.

The East Region of NCAA Division II is comprised of teams affiliated with the East Coast Conference, the Northeast-10 Conference and the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference.

Daemen served as the regional host for the first time in program history. The University at Buffalo will host the Division I Cross Country Regionals next weekend and the Buffalo Niagara Sports Commission estimates that the economic impact associated with Daemen and UB hosting these events will be approximately $1.3 million.

Assumption College edged conference-rival and perennial power Stonehill College for the regional title. The Greyhounds, out of the NE-10, placed five runners among the Top-25 finishers and totaled 45 team points. Assumption came in one point ahead of Stonehill (46 points), which was looking to claim its eighth regional title in the last nine years.

Senior Emily Knox (Worcester, Mass.) of Stonehill, who claimed the NE-10 championship two weeks ago, paced the field of 173 runners with a time of 22:43.6.

ECC champion Roberts Wesleyan College finished third and will join Assumption and Stonehill at the 2017 NCAA Division II National Championships, set to take place Nov. 18 in Evansville, Ind.

The top-three individuals from non-qualifying teams also earned their way to the national meet. Those bids went to Kendall Fitzgerald (Kamloops, British Columbia) of Post University, the 2017 ECC individual champion Talya Williams (Schenectady, N.Y.) of Long Island University—Post and Laura Morrison (Wethersfield, Conn.) of Southern Connecticut State University. The trio finished second, fourth and fifth respectively. Fitzgerald, the CACC champion, finished just seven seconds behind Knox with a time of 22:50.0.

Senior Amy Trabert (Amherst, N.Y./Amherst) paced the seven Daemen runners who took part in the event. Trabert was the top Daemen runner for the fifth-straight race and placed 13th overall with a time of 23:28.5. She was part of a seven-runner cluster that finished between 23:20.7 and 23:28.5. For her efforts, Trabert earns All-East Region honors from the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. The top-25 finishers earn all-region recognition. Daemen has now produced an all-region runner for the third-straight year, as former great Mackenzie Donahue collected the honor in both 2015 and 2016. Today's race marked the final event of Trabert's four-year career. A first-team All-ECC performer that last two years, she finished with ten top-10 finishes in 24 career races.

Freshmen Tara Pede (Schenectady, N.Y./Guilderland) and Savannah Warner (Elma, N.Y./Alden) both made their NCAA Championship debut today. Pede placed 32nd with a time of 24:25.4, while Warner placed 70th with a time of 25:28.0. Both runners posted similar times on the same course during the University at Buffalo Stampede Invitational earlier this year. Pede ran that race in 24:18.8, while Warner posted a time of 25:20.1.

Sophomore Shania LiVecchi (West Seneca, N.Y./West Seneca West) competed in her first NCAA regional after missing last year's race. She moved up 10 spots after the midway point of the race and placed 91st with a time of 26:17.2.

Freshmen Ashley Dusza (Alden, N.Y./Alden) and Mackenzie Tubbs (Elmira, N.Y./Elmira) and red-shirt junior Emily Bradley (Lockport, N.Y./Starpoint) also made their NCAA championship debuts. Dusza placed 120th (27:05.3), Bradley finished 129th (27:26.7) and Tubbs placed 132nd (27:34.4).

Today's race marked the 2017 season finale for Daemen.

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