Women's Cross Country | 12/2/2022 3:41:00 PM
UNIVERSITY PLACE, WA -- The Daemen University women's cross country team made history on Friday afternoon, finishing 33rd out of 34 teams in the NCAA Division II National Championships held at the Chambers Creek Regional Park on Friday afternoon. These Wildcat runners marked the first team in program history to advance to Nationals, and they were also the first women's cross country team, in any Division, from Western New York to make it to Nationals.
FULL RESULTS
Much like the weather in Buffalo this time of year, the conditions on the course were frigid, with the temperature teetering in the mid-to-high 30's with clouds settling in after early snow showers in the early afternoon. After placing third in the Division II East Region Championships at Bethpage, N.Y. on Nov. 19 to advance to Nationals as a team, Daemen set a program-high 33rd place team finish with 926 points, finishing one spot ahead of East Coast Conference-foe Roberts Wesleyan in the team standings. The Redhawks rounded out the final place within the 34 teams represented in the meet.
Stephanie Cotter of Adams State paced the field of 263 this afternoon, running the 6K course in 19:45.2 for her second individual championship (Cotter was the first runner in Nationals history to run a sub-20 minute 6K to win the 2019 race). ASU placed three runners in the top-20 and totaled 75-points overall to win the Grizzlies their third-straight NCAA National Championship. Perrennial powerhouse Grand Valley State (126 points) finished as the runners-up today, placing the third and seventh-place runners in the race. All three teams from the East Region finished in a row, with East Region champions Southern New Hampshire placing 32nd, Daemen 33rd and Roberts 34th.
Running in her final cross country race of her stellar Daemen career, graduate student
Kassandra Nolet (Fort Erie, Ont.) paced the Wildcats, posting a time of 22:53.3 to finish 173rd overall. That marks Nolet's third-fastest 6K time in her four-year cross country career, and ranks as the 15th-fastest time in the Daemen 6K record books. Nolet ran a total of 27 collegiate XC races at Daemen, and finished with 11 top-5 finishes in her career. She was named the 2022 ECC Runner of the Year, earned All-ECC honors three times (First Team in 2022 and 2021, Second Team in 2019), as well as All-Region twice (2022 and 2021). Nolet helped lead Daemen to 14 top-5 team finishes and seven first-place team finishes from 2018-22.
Sophomore standout
Marcy Colca (Getzville, N.Y.) finished second on the team for the third-straight meet, crossing the finish line at 23:19.0 to place 203rd. Colca rounds out her outstanding sophomore season with four first-place finishes, a second-place finish and a sixth-place finish at Regionals. She earned First Team All-ECC honors and All-Region honors, as well as ECC Runner of the Week a record five times this season.
Junior
Camryn Bailey (Geneva, N.Y.) posted a time of 23:32.9 to finish 212th overall in the race, and placed third for the Wildcats. That marks her second-fastest 6K time in her career. Bailey set a personal-record (23:22.4) at the East Region Championship on Nov. 19. The junior compiled four top-10 finishes in 2022, and picked up All-Region honors for the first time in her career.
Senior
Courtney Merrill (Speedway, Ind.) finished fourth on the team, and placed 230th with a time of 24:00.3. In her senior season, and just her second year running cross country at Daemen, Merrill earned Second Team All-ECC honors, as well as All-Region honors. Merrill recorded five top-10 finishes in 2022, including a third place finish at the Daemen Alumni Invitational this year, tying a career-high finish.
Redshirt senior
Hannah Thomas (Cheektowaga, N.Y.) rounded out the scorers for Daemen today, posting a personal-best 6K time of 24:10.1 to place 236th. Thomas shaved two seconds off her previous PR time of 24:12.4, set at the Highlander Invitational earlier this season. She earned Second Team All-ECC in 2022, and solidified herself as one of the team's top seven runners this season.
Emma Cain (Lockport, N.Y.) was the sixth and final Wildcat to run at Nationals this afternoon. She finished 256th overall with a time of 25:00.1 in the final race of her sophomore season. Cain finished the 2022 season with two top-10 finishes.
The Wildcats ended their historic 2022 season with four-first place team finishes this season, a second-place finish at the ECC Championships, a third-place finish at the East Region Championship, a fourth place finish at the Canisius Alumni Classic, and a 33rd place finish at Nationals.
Daemen University features the premier NCAA Division II athletics program in the Buffalo-Niagara region, sponsoring 17 intercollegiate teams. For the latest information on Daemen Athletics, follow the Wildcats via social media on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, or sign up to receive customizable news alerts, e-mail newsletters and weekly schedule alerts.
Follow the Daemen women's cross country program on Twitter and Instagram at @DaemenXCTF.
