PHILADELPHIA CLAIMS FOURTH STRAIGHT CACC WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIP
PHILADELPHIA, PA (October 23, 2011) – Philadelphia University placed all fiv e scoring runners in the top-11 en route to its fourth consecutive Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) women's cross country championship Sunday morning at Belmont Plateau in Philadelphia. In record breaking fashion, Sarah Simonetti claimed her second straight CACC individual title and was named CACC Runner of the Year.
The Lady Rams finished the meet with just 21 points, while Wilmington University finished second with 61 points, narrowly ahead of third place Dominican College (67). Georgian Court University came home fourth with a total of 121 points, while Nyack College was fifth with 160. The Warriors claimed the Anne Jackson Memorial Team Sportsmanship Award.
PhilaU's Taylor Falvey was the highest-finishing rookie to earn CACC Rookie of the Year honors, while Lady Ram head coach Dave Thomas was voted the conference's Coach of the Year for the third time.
Simonetti completed the event in 18 minutes, 43.21 seconds, smashing the previous CACC
record of 19:23.29 set by Georgian Court's Heather Miara in 2007. Simonetti won today's event by 62 seconds. Falvey finished in third place with a time of 19:52.91, while senior Gabrielle Dei Tos came home fourth after crossing the finish line in 19:59.78. Sophomore Chelsea Attaway posted a time of 20:47.18 to finish in ninth. Sophomore Christina Wetzel grabbed the fifth scoring position for the Rams with an 11th place finish after stopping the clock at 20:55.80. All five runners were named to the All-CACC team.
Meghan McAdorey didn't figure into the scoring, but also nabbed a spot on the All-Conference team after coming in 15th place with time of 21:09.65.
Senior Sarah Dugandzic led Dominican to its third place finish by crossing in 20:19 to grab sixth place, while sophomore Jessica Avila claimed eighth place in 20:43.
Numerous teams from the CACC will next compete at the NCAA Division II East Region Championship, which will take place Sunday, Nov. 6, at Franklin Park in Boston, Mass.