ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Senior Mackenzie Donahue (East Aurora, N.Y./East Aurora) and junior Amy Trabert (Amherst, N.Y./Amherst) both recorded top-10 finishes to lead the Daemen College women's cross country team to a runner-up finish at the East Coast Conference Championships held this morning on the campus of Roberts Wesleyan College.
Daemen accumulated 48 points in the team standings, but was edged by host Roberts Wesleyan (31 points) for the ECC crown—RWC's third-straight. Daemen entered today's race ranked No. 4 in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division II East Region poll, while RWC was ranked No. 2 in the region. Saint Thomas Aquinas College placed third with 82 points, while LIU Post (108) and New York Institute of Technology (132) rounded out the top-five.
It marked the second-straight year—and third time in the past four years—that Daemen has placed second at the event.
Junior Talya Williams (Schenectady, N.Y.) of Long Island University—Post paced the field of 70 runners today with a time of 17:42.7. A six-time ECC Runner of the Week selection this year, Williams was crowned ECC Runner of the Year by virtue of her winning today's race.
Daemen had five runners finish among the top-15. Donahue finished in 18:09.8 and placed second for the second-straight year. It marked her third-straight top-five finish this season and the 18th top-10 finish of her career (in 24 career races). Her performance today also marked the 21st time in her career that she's come in as Daemen's top finisher.
Trabert placed seventh with a time of 18:49.7. She has now finished in the top-10 in four of the five races she has participated in this season, including a first-place effort at the season-opening Le Moyne Alumni Short Course Invitational. Trabert now has seven top-10 finishes in her career (out of 18 career races).
For their efforts today, Donahue and Trabert both earned first-team All-ECC honors. The league awards first-team honors to finishers one through seven, and second-team honors to finishers eight through 14. It's the fourth-straight year with an all-conference honor for Donahue. She was a second-team All-ECC performer as a freshman and sophomore and collected first-team honors as a junior and senior. Trabert, who finished eighth in last year's race, collected all-conference honors for the second-straight year.
Seniors Hannah Rice (East Aurora, N.Y./East Aurora) and Ashley Cheff (Niagara Falls, N.Y./Niagara Falls) and redshirt-sophomore Rebekah Zee (East Aurora, N.Y./Slippery Rock University) each earned top-15 finishes for the Wildcats today. Rice placed 10th and collected second-team all-conference honors with a time of 19:14.7. The performance today marked Rice's 15th top-20 finish in her career (in 21 career races). Cheff also earned second-team all-conference honors after placing 14th with a career-best time of 19:35.8. Zee missed out on all-conference honors by just three seconds and placed 15th with a time of 19:38.7.
Seniors Brittany Denton (Oakfield, N.Y./Oakfield-Alabama) and Morgan Urbanek (Webster, N.Y./Webster Schroeder) did not figure in the team scoring, but both turned in a top-20 effort. Denton placed 17th (19:57.9), while Urbanek finished 20th (20:05.4).
Junior Katherine Robinson (Pasadena, Calif./Pasadena), sophomore Emily Bradley (Lockport, N.Y./Starpoint) and freshmen Julia Gaeta (Kenmore, N.Y./Kenmore West) and Shania LiVecchi (West Seneca, N.Y./West Seneca West) also competed for Daemen today and all finished in the top-31. Robinson placed 26th (20:32.6), while Bradley finished 27th with a career-best time of 20:34.5. Gaeta also posted a career-best time of 20:50.9 and placed 30th, while LiVecchi finished 31st (20:52.1).
Daemen's season continues on Saturday, Nov. 5 at the NCAA Division II East Region Championships in Hopkinton, N.H.
For breaking news and continuing coverage of the Daemen women's cross country team, follow @DaemenAthletics and @DaemenXC on Twitter.
