Daemen University Athletics

AMHERST, N.Y. – Daemen College cross country standouts Amy Trabert (Amherst, N.Y./Amherst) and Kevin Roginson (Amherst, N.Y./Williamsville North) have been named the College’s Student-Athletes of the Month presented by Western New York Knee and Orthopedic Surgery PC for September 2016.

Trabert, a junior, was Daemen’s top finisher in two of the three races the Wildcats took part in last month. It marks the second time Trabert has been named Daemen’s Athlete of the Month, as she also collected the honor last spring during the outdoor track and field season.

Trabert opened the year by helping Daemen repeat at team champions at the Le Moyne Alumni Short Course (4K) Invitational. She paced the field of 50 runners with a course-record time of 16:20.51, knocking 43 seconds off her fourth-place time from last year and registering her first career first-place finish.

Trabert followed up that effort by once again finishing first among Daemen runners (24th overall) at the University of Rochester Yellowjacket Invitational. Her time of 22:59.2 in the 6K event was 11 seconds better than teammate Mackenzie Donahue, marking the first time Trabert has finished ahead of Donahue in a competition. Donahue, who became the Wildcat’s first-ever NCAA Division II National Championships qualifier last year, had finished first among Daemen runners in 18 of 20 races over her career going into the event.

Trabert capped the month by helping Daemen to a third-place showing at the Harry F. Anderson Invitational, a 5K race hosted by Roberts Wesleyan College. Trabert placed fourth out of 223 runners with a career-best time of 18:32.4—just four seconds behind Donahue and 14 seconds off the pace of race winner Mary Baughman of Cortland State. It marked the fifth top-10 finish of Trabert’s three-year career (16 races).

Trabert is a big reason that the  women's cross country team has been ranked among the top-five programs in the NCAA Division II East Region all season by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

Roginson, a junior, was Daemen’s top finisher in all three races the Wildcats took part in last month.

The highlight of the month came at the Harry F. Anderson Invitational hosted by Roberts Wesleyan College on Sept. 24. He completed the 8K race in a career-best time of 25:32.6 to finish first out of 213 total competitors. The performance marked the first race victory in Roginson's collegiate career and also earned him East Coast Conference Runner of the Week honors. He shaved more than 50 seconds off his previous best 8K time (26:25.23), which he posted at the 2015 East Coast Conference Championship meet. It also marked the third top-10 finish of his three-year career,

He opened the month by placing fourth at the season-opening Le Moyne Alumni Short Course (6K) Invitational with a time of 21:09.9, knocking nearly two minutes off his time at the same event last year (23:01.01). A week later Roginson finished 21st out of 318 total competitors at the University of Rochester Yellowjacket Invitational with a time of 26:57.6—once again knocking nearly two minutes off his time at the same event last year (28:39.3).

Daemen’s cross country teams return to action this weekend (Oct. 8) when they take part in the Lake Erie Storm Invitational. The event is hosted by Lake Erie College in Painesville, Ohio.