WESTFIELD, Mass. – The Southern Vermont College women's cross country team had a phenomenal outing at the 2016 New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Championship Saturday morning as the Mountaineers set a slew of personal records, charted three school records, and tallied the program's best-ever squad finish in league history.
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SVC placed second overall with 49 team points, putting a pair of runners in the top five and four harriers on all-conference teams. Since the NECC's inception in 2008, the Mountaineers had never finished better than fourth overall at the league's title meet; Saturday's showing at Stanley Park was the also the best for Southern Vermont since the team won the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Championship (GNAC) in 2001.
Bennington College junior Annika Kristiansen (Keene, N.H.) set a new Southern Vermont record for a 5000 meter course (20:04) while she and Bennington classmate Isabella Poulos (Milwaukee, Wis.) earned their way to the All-NECC First Team. Senior captain Shelby Whitman (Bennington, Vt.) and her SVC classmate Jordan Welch (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) both collected All-NECC Second Team honors on the day as well.
Seven of the 10 Mountaineers who participated in the Conference meet set new personal records while three of those times were good enough to crack the College's top 10 record list for a 5k course.
"I'm extremely proud of the women with their best team finish in years," commented fourth-year SVC head coach Kathleen Newton '04. "They all ran great races, and the number of PR's was just incredible."
Southern Vermont now prepares for the NCAA Division III New England Regional Qualifier set to take place at Stanley Park as well, that 6k race scheduled to start at 10 a.m. next Saturday, November 12.
FULL RESULTS: http://www.coolrunning.com/results/16/ma/Nov5_NECCWo_set1.shtml
Kristiansen placed first for SVC and fourth overall, setting a new Southern Vermont team record with a time of 20:04; that broke the old team record of 20:07 set by Newton at the 2002 GNAC Championship. Kristiansen's finish earned the Mountaineer a spot on the All-NECC First Team for the second-straight year, the time being 19 seconds ahead of her old personal record which she set at last year's Conference race.
"Records are made to be broken," Newton said of her top time being bested. "It's been 14 years; that's a long time. I'm still really proud of that record, being 42 years old when I set it. But I got to coach the person who broke it, so I'm very happy about that."
Kristiansen was followed by Poulos who came close to also breaking Newton's record time, placing fifth with a 20:08 showing; that was 31 seconds faster than her previous personal best and 2:54 quicker than she posted at the 2015 NECC Championship.
Whitman ran the last 5k of her collegiate career, doing so with an 11th-place finish on a time of 21:11; that was the fastest she has run this year by 1:17 and gave her a third All-NECC honor after she collected First Team laurels in each of the last two years. Whitman was also selected by Coach Newton to represent Southern Vermont on the NECC All-Sportsmanship Team for the second year in-a-row.
Welch placed fourth for SVC and 14th overall to round out the All-NECC Second Team in her first conference championship, coming in at 21:35 for a new personal record that was 1:21 ahead of her old best mark; she is now tied for eighth on the all-time SVC 5k record list. Classmate Skye McGuire (Mechanicville, N.Y.) concluded the Mountaineers' scoring placements, crossing at 15th overall with a time of 22:05.
Fellow senior Emily Lesure (Cheshire, Mass.) crossed the line at 23:09 for another PR, breaking her previous best by 20 seconds. She was just in front of sophomore Morgan Arleth (Berlin, Vt.) who was seventh for Southern Vermont, shaving 15 seconds off of her old personal record with a 23:13.
Sophomore rookie Bailey Bradbury (Grants Pass, Ore.) was next for the Mountaineers with another PR, taking 1:17 off of her old best mark to finish at 23:38. Sophomore Morgan Kaeppel (Vernon, Vt.) came through 1:05 faster than she did at last year's NECC title race with a 24:58, and senior Kaylee Cross (Lewis, N.Y.) chalked up a new personal record of 27:25 which was 1:03 ahead of her previous best on a 5k course.
Southern Vermont
4th - Annika Kristiansen: 20:04 (PR)
5th - Isabella Poulos: 20:08 (PR)
11th - Shelby Whitman: 21:11
14th - Jordan Welch: 21:35 (PR)
15th - Skye McGuire: 22:05
23rd - Emily Lesure: 23:09 (PR)
24th - Morgan Arleth: 23:13 (PR)
26th - Bailey Bradbury: 23:38 (PR)
38th - Morgan Kaeppel: 24:58
50th - Kaylee Cross: 27:25 (PR)
– #LetsGoSVC –