AMHERST, N.Y. -- The Daemen University women's cross country team is picked to finish second in the
East Coast Conference Women's Cross Country Preseason Coaches' Poll, which was announced this morning following a vote of the league's eight head coaches.
Daemen's No. 2 preseason ranking comes after posting a second place finish at the 2022 ECC Championships for the second straight season. Roberts Wesleyan University, winners of the last eight ECC titles, sits atop the poll with 61 points, collecting five first-place votes. The Wildcats earned three first-place votes and finished just behind the Redhawks with 58 points in the poll. Molloy College and St. Thomas Aquinas College both earned 42 points and are tied for second. The University of the District of Columbia (26), Queens College (23), D'Youville University (22) and The College of Staten Island (14) round out the poll.
The Wildcats are without their top two runners from the successful 2022 campaign, losing 2022 ECC Runner of the Year
Kassandra Nolet to graduation and
Marcy Colca stepping away from cross country. Daemen returns 11 runners this season, including graduate student
Courtney Merrill (Speedway, Ind.), senior
Camryn Bailey (Geneva, N.Y.) and sophomore
Patsy Oberholzer (Greece, N.Y.) who were all integral pieces of Daemen's team in 2022. Named the 2023 ECC Co-Runner of the Year, Merrill put together a breakout senior campaign and earned Second Team All-ECC and USTFCCCA All-Region honors for her postseason efforts. She posted five top-10 finishes and was one of Daemen's top-three runners in four meets and in the top five in each of the eight meets. Bailey picked up USTFCCCA All-Region honors after placing 25th overall with a PR 6K time of 23:22.4 en route to helping the Wildcats to a third place finish at the NCAA Division II East Region Championships for their highest regional finish in program history. Oberholzer quickly found her place on the team as a freshman in 2022, posting a top-10 finish in four races and finishing in Daemen's top five runners in each of the seven meets that she competed in. She was named the ECC Rookie of the Week for a conference-record five times on the season.
Daemen will compete in seven meets this season, beginning on Sept. 2 as they travel to Syracuse for the Frank Dillon Memorial Invitational. Four additional regular season meets follow, including the Daemen Alumni Invitational (Sept. 16) at Williamsville's Bassett Park. Roberts Wesleyan will host the 20223 ECC Championships on Oct. 21, and the NCAA Division II East Region Championships will take place in Hopkinton, N.H. on Nov. 4.
2023 ECC Women's Cross Country Preseason Poll
1. Roberts Wesleyan (5) - 61
2. DAEMEN (3) - 58
T3. Molloy - 42
T3. St. Thomas Aquinas - 42
5. Dist. of Columbia - 26
6. Queens - 23
7. D'Youville - 22
8. Staten Island - 14
( ) denotes first place votes
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.
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