ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- The Daemen University women's cross country team placed all of its top five runners in the top-14 as the Wildcats raced to a second-place finish at the 2023 East Coast Conference Championships. Daemen's top five runners earned All-ECC honors, tying a program-best.

The Wildcats finished with a team-score of 49 to place second at the ECC Championships for the third straight season. Roberts Wesleyan finished with the top three runners in the race and posted a team-score of 29 to win their ninth straight conference title. D'Youville (61), St. Thomas Aquinas (124), Molloy (131), District of Columbia (163), Queens (178) and Staten Island (198) rounded out the field of eight teams. The Roberts Wesleyan trio of Acacia Barber, Rachel Horner-Richardson and Kylee Odell took home the gold, silver and bronze on the day.

Daemen senior Camryn Bailey (Geneva, N.Y.) set personal records on the day, earning a personal-best seventh place finish out of 62 runners for a PR time of 18:58.8. Bailey earned All-ECC honors for the first time in her career and was the only Daemen runner to be named to the First Team honors, awarded to the top seven runners in the race.

Fifth year senior Hannah Thomas (Cheektowaga, N.Y.) finished eighth in the race with a PR time of 19:04.2 to take home Second Team All-ECC honors for the second straight season.

Sophomore Patsy Oberholzer (Greece, N.Y.) and graduate student Courtney Merrill (Speedway, Ind.) each picked up Second Team All-ECC honors as they finished 10th and 11th, respectively. Oberholzer crossed the finish line with a PR time of 19:11.5 to earn all conference honors for the first time. Merrill finished three seconds later at 19:14.6 to earn Second Team All-ECC for the third straight year.

Junior Emma Cain (Lockport, N.Y.) rounded out the Daemen scoring with a personal best 13th-place finish with a time of 19:36.7 to earn Second Team All-ECC honors for the second time in her career.

NOTABLE

• Today marked the second straight meet that Bailey led the Wildcats this season. The senior shaved (19:18.1) set at the 2022 Harry F. Anderson Invitational.
• Thomas earned a personal-best eighth place finish with her PR time today, shaving five seconds off her previous PR of 19:09.2 from the Harry F. Anderson Invitational earlier this season. Thomas has set PRs in five of the six races she has run in this season. 
• Oberholzer's time of 19:11.5 was 13 seconds faster than her previous 5K PR (19:24.7) set at the 2022 Canisius Alumni Classic. 
• Sophomore Hayley Pizur (Grand Island, N.Y.) placed 27th overall with a personal best time of 21:47.4. She shaved four seconds off her previous PR (21:51.2) set last weekend at the Canisius Alumni Classic.
• Senior Neissa Raymond (Brooklyn, N.Y.) raced at the ECC Championships for the first time in her career and placed 55th overall with a time of 25:21.3 to round out the Daemen runners.

UP NEXT
The Wildcats will race in the NCAA Division II East Region Championships on Saturday, Nov. 4 in Hopkinton, N.H. Daemen placed third at the East Regionals in 2022 and punched their ticket to Nationals. 

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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.