University of New Hampshire Athletics
University of New Hampshire
America East
Purrier Places First, Women's XC Crowned America East Championships to Reclaim Title
11/1/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
ORONO, Maine - The University of New Hampshire women's cross country team took first place (26 points) at the America East Championships Saturday morning on the campus of Maine to claim their second title in back-to-back years. The race consisted of 86 runners.
Five runners finished in the top 10 for the 'Cats in the 5k race.
Sophomore Elinor Purrier (Montgomery, Vt.) paced the Wildcats with a first-place finish (17:19). Last year, she placed sixth.
Senior co-captain's and Chesley Serrano (Manchester, N.H.) Anne Twombly (Exeter, N.H.) finished in the top five. Serrano ran a time of 17:47 finishing fourth overall with Twombly right behind her (17:57) placing fifth.
Lauren Rose Donegan (Melbourne, Australia) placed sixth overall at the race as she crossed the finish line with a time of 17:53.
Runners, Brianna Boden (Keene, N.H.), Samantha Blais (Lyndeborough, N.H.) and Amber Short (Keene, N.H.)ran times of 18:10, 18:11 and 18:12 for a 10th, 11th and a 12th place finish respectively.
For the second straight year, New Hampshire's women's coaching staff, led by head coach Robert Hoppler, took home the Coaching Staff of the Year Award.
The Cross Country award ceremony also broke new ground on the Elite 18 award, which is given to a student exemplifying excellence both in their sport, and in the classroom. New Hampshire's Twombly took home the honor for the women; the senior is a studio art major, and maintains a perfect 4.0 GPA.
Following the America East Championships, the women will travel to Van Cortlandt Park (Bronx, N.Y.) to compete at the NCAA Regional Meet on Friday, November 14.
For more information on the women's cross country team, be sure to visit www.UNHWildcats.com.
Players Mentioned
