OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. - Senior Amy Trabert (Amherst, N.Y./Amherst) and freshman Tara Pede (Schenectady, N.Y./Guilderland) both recorded top-10 finishes to lead the Daemen College women's cross country team to a third-place finish at the East Coast Conference Championships held this morning on the campus of New York Institute of Technology.

Daemen, which placed second at this event the previous two seasons, accumulated 67 points in the team standings. Roberts Wesleyan College (36 pts) placed five runners among the top-10 finishers en route to its fourth-straight ECC Championship. St. Thomas Aquinas College placed second with a team score of 61. Daemen entered today's race ranked No. 9 in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division II East Region poll. RWC is ranked No. 3 in the region, while STAC is ranked seventh. Molloy College (104) and LIU Post (124) rounded out the top-five.

Senior Talya Williams (Schenectady, N.Y.) of Long Island University—Post paced the field of 79 runners today with a time of 17:44.08. Williams was crowned ECC Runner of the Year for the third time in the past four years by virtue of her winning today's race.

Daemen had three runners finish among the top-16. Trabert was the top Daemen runner for the fourth-straight race and placed second overall with a time of 18:36.06. The time was just four seconds off her career-best standard of 18:32.4 she set at the 2016 Harry F. Anderson Invitational. Trabert's second-place showing today marked the third-straight year that a Daemen runner has placed second at the ECC Championship. Former Daemen great and current assistant coach Mackenzie Donahue placed second in both 2015 and 2016. Trabert registered her 10th career top-10 finish today.

Pede, who posted a personal-best time for a 5K race for the fourth-straight time, crossed the finish line in sixth place with a time of 19:02.01. She knocked 22 seconds off her previous personal-best time of 19:24.4 she set at the Canisius Alumni Classic last weekend. Pede came just two seconds shy of earning ECC Rookie of the Year honors. RWC freshman Ashely Watson came in fifth with a time of 18:59.39 and claimed ECC Rookie of the Year honors by virtue of being the top rookie finisher.

Trabert and Pede both earned first-team All-ECC honors for their efforts today. Trabert, who placed seventh at last year's ECC Championship, collected the honor for the second-straight year. The top seven finishers earn first-team all-conference honors, while seven through 14 earn second-team honors.

Daemen's other standout freshmen Savannah Warner (Elma, N.Y./Alden) and Mackenzie Tubbs (Elmira, N.Y./Elmira) and sophomore Shania LiVecchi (West Seneca, N.Y./West Seneca West) also contributed to Daemen's team score. Warner knocked 32 seconds off her previous personal-best time and placed 16th today with a time of 19:57.82. Her previous personal-best (20:30.1) was set set last week at the Canisius Alumni Classic. Tubbs also established a personal-best time today, as she placed 21st with a time of 20:19.62. Her previous best time was 21:06.9 set at the Harry F. Anderson Invitational last month. LiVecchi also finished in the top-30, as she placed 28th with a time of 20:57.37. She came just 12 seconds shy of matching her career-best time of 20:45.5 she set at the 2016 Harry F. Anderson Invitational.

A total of 11 Daemen runners took part in today's championship race. Freshman Ashley Dusza (Alden, N.Y./Alden) placed 31st (21:06.95), red-shirt senior Katherine Robinson (Pasadena, Calf./Pasadena) placed 38th (21:33.51), red-shirt junior Emily Bradley (Lockport, N.Y./Starpoint) finished 42nd (21:45.37), freshman Taya Much (Lockport, N.Y./Lockport) finished 47th (22:29.40), red-shirt freshman Morgan Munger (Oakfield, N.Y./Oakfield-Alabama) placed 49th (22:59.01) and sophomore Elisia Panipinto (Ovid, N.Y./South Seneca) placed 58th (24:10.72).

Daemen is idle until Nov. 4 when it will take part in the NCAA Division II East Region Championship. The race will be hosted by Daemen and take place at the Audobon Golf Course in Amherst, N.Y.

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