Wildcats Ranked Third In USTFCCCA Preseason Regional Rankings

WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY PRESEASON EAST REGION RANKINGS
Rank	School	Conference	2015 Final Regional Ranking
1	Stonehill	Northeast-10	1st
2	Assumption	Northeast-10	6th
3	DAEMEN	EAST COAST	4TH
4	Roberts Wesleyan	East Coast	2nd
5	Bentley	Northeast-10	5th
6	St. Thomas Aquinas	East Coast	3rd
7	Merrimack	Northeast-10	8th
8	Southern Connecticut St.	Northeast-10	21st
9	Le Moyne	Northeast-10	13th
10	Philadelphia	Central Atlantic Collegiate	9

AMHERST, N.Y. - The Daemen College women's cross country team is the NCAA Division II East Region's No. 3 ranked team in the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) preseason regional rankings which were released from the USTFCCCA national office in New Orleans, La. today.

Daemen, which placed fourth at the 2015 NCAA Division II East Region Championship, will enter the 2016 season as the top-ranked team from the East Coast Conference after beating out fellow regionally-ranked squads Roberts Wesleyan College (fourth) and Saint Thomas Aquinas College (sixth). The Wildcats were picked behind both the Redhawks and Spartans in the ECC preseason poll which was announced last week.

"It's great to see us near the top of the regional rankings to start the season, but it doesn't mean we can just show up and expect to perform well," said Paul Lagno, the Wildcats' second-year head coach. "We have most of our top seven athletes back, as well as some new additions that should give us some much needed depth. Missing the national championship meet as a team by one spot last season has definitely lit a fire under this team. They understand the expectations. I'm excited to see how things play out once we get into the thick of the season."

Two Northeast-10 Conference teams - Stonehill College (first) and Assumption College (second) sit above Daemen atop the poll. The top-seeded Skyhawks regained the East Region championship last season; it was their fourth title in the last five seasons after Roberts Wesleyan interrupted their string by winning the 2014 crown.

Stonehill and Assumption were joined in the poll by their NE-10 brethren from Bentley University (fifth), Merrimack College (seventh), Southern Connecticut State University (eighth) and Le Moyne College (ninth). Philadelphia University of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference rounds out the poll at No. 10.

Senior Mackenzie Donahue (East Aurora, N.Y./East Aurora), who set team records on four separate ocassions last season, returns to lead the Wildcats. Donahue earned first-team All-ECC and first-team All-East Region honors last season after finishing second and third at the ECC Championship and East Region Championship, respectively. Her record-setting 6K time of 21:42.46 at the East Region Championship was fast enough to make her Daemen's first-ever NCAA Division II National Championship qualifier where she competed in mid-November, finishing 69th overall and second among all East Region competitors.

Also back is senior Hannah Rice (East Aurora, N.Y./East Aurora) who missed the 2015 ECC Championship with an injury, only to return at the regional meet two weeks later. Rice has six top-10 finishes in 17 career races. She'll be joined by 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 this Saturday, September 3 at the Le Moyne Short Course Invitational where they placed first as a team to open the 2015 season, led by Rice's first-place finish in the individual race standings. The ECC Championship is slated for October 22 on the campus of Roberts Wesleyan in Rochester, and the East Region Championship will follow on November 5 in Hopkinton, N.H.

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

Print Friendly Version

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