BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Racing in their final meet before the 2024 East Coast Conference Championships next weekend, the Daemen University women's cross country team placed fifth out of eight teams at the
Canisius Alumni Classic at Buffalo's Delaware Park on Saturday morning. On this beautiful day in Western New York, the Wildcats all ran as a pack in their final regular season race and placed all of their top seven runners within 11 scoring spots. Host Canisius University placed their top five runners in the top-16 to win their home meet with 39 total points, just one point ahead of Saint Francis University (40) who had the second, fourth and fifth place runners in the meet. The University at Buffalo (55) and Niagara University (102) placed ahead of Daemen who finished in fifth place with 141 points.
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Graduate student
Courtney Merrill (Speedway, Ind.) and junior
Patsy Oberholzer (Greece, N.Y.) paced the Wildcats today, finishing 30th and 31st overall out of 94 runners on the day. Merrill posted a time of 19:26.1, just milliseconds ahead of Oberholzer with a time of 19:26.7.
Senior
Emma Cain (Lockport, N.Y.) and junior
Christa Oates (Tonawanda, N.Y.) finished in the second Wildcat pack, placing 48th and 49th with Cain (20:10.7) getting just a step on Oates (20:10.8) over the finish line. Graduate student
Camryn Bailey (Geneva, N.Y.) rounded out the Daemen scorers with a time of 20:20.1 to finish 54th.
Freshmen
Lia Brasacchio (Victor, N.Y.) and
Kylie Piekarski (Lancaster, N.Y.) placed sixth and seven on the team. Brasacchio crossed the line just three seconds behind Bailey at 20:23.0 to place 56th, while Piekarski posted a score of 20:36.2 and finished 59th on the day. Junior
Madeline Straub (Olean, N.Y.) and graduate student
Emma Grzebinski (West Seneca, N.Y.) crossed the finish line at 61 and 62 overall, with Straub posting a time of 20:46.0 and Grzebinski finishing at 21:08.1.
Junior
Hayley Pizur (Grand Island, N.Y.) and freshman
Meagan Zupo (North Tonawanda, N.Y.) rounded out the Daemen runners today. Pizur finished 67th with a 5K PR of 21:35.9 and Zupo placed 72nd (22:11.6).
The Wildcats will host the 2024 ECC Championships next weekend at their home course of Bassett Park in Williamsville, N.Y. on Saturday, Oct. 26.
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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