Women’s Cross Country is Ready for the AE Championships (Oct. 31; 10 a.m.)

DURHAM, N.H. – The University of New Hampshire women's cross country team is primed for the America East Championship at Stony Brook University on Saturday, Oct. 31 (10 a.m.).

MEET DETAILS
The 5K race will include 90 participants, 10 from each program, battling for the top times. Although the team has won the past two seasons, this squad has a different makeup from past years.

LAST TIME OUT FOR NEW HAMPSHIRE
New Hampshire finished 10th at the Central Connecticut State University Mini Meet (Oct. 23) with 262 points total.

TOP SEVEN WILDCATS LAST TIME OUT

Overall Finish	Name	Time
10th	Kayla Farren (Nashua, N.H.)	10:29.5
29th	Angelyn Masters (Bangor, Maine)	10:49.7
50th	Katherine Estep (Plaistow, N.H.)	11:04.7
83rd	Casey McGrath (Foster, R.I.)	11:31.9
90th	Carina Berglund (Tewksbury, Mass.)	11:40.7

WHO TO WATCH OUT FOR
The Wildcats have tough competition at the conference finals this season. Six-time champion Stony Brook will have comfort on its home course and receives much respect from the league. The University at Albany has dominated the track the last decade and is always dangerous on the cross country course as well.

TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Wildcats have a chance to win a third championship in as many years on Saturday. Last season, the squad compiled 26 points for the victory, the second lowest score in the league championship since 2001. New Hampshire had five of the top-ten finishes last year, returning two of them for this season. In 2013, the team recorded three top-ten times.

VETERAN GROUP
UNH has five seniors competing this season and returns seven student-athletes from the meet last season. Senior Laura Rose Donegan (Melbourne, Australia) placed sixth overall and fourth for the Wildcats a season ago and returns to lead the group this year. Additional seniors Brianna Boden (Keene, N.H.), Samantha Blais (Lyndeborough, N.H.), Amber Short (Keene, N.H.) and Alex Giese (Franklin, Mass.) placed 10^th, 11^th, 12^th and 19^th, respectively, at the championship last year.

AUSTRALIAN DONEGAN
Donegan enters her fourth meet of the season after placing 23^rd overall at the Pre-Nationals meet (Oct. 17). She began the season with a first place finish at Stony Brook University (Sept. 12) with a 5K time of 18:56.3. At her second meet of the season she claimed 17^th place with a time of 17:27.0.

KEENE FOR GREATNESS
Short and Boden most recently competed at Pre-Nationals placing 114^th and 147^th, respectively. In Beantown the two ran again as Short finished 27^th overall followed by Boden who took the 76^th spot. Both athletes haven't raced for 14 days and are well rested for a chance at a third title.

BLAISING SPEED
Like Donegan, Blais will race in her fourth meet of the season on Saturday. The New Hampshire native's best finish this season was at the home opener (Sept. 5) where she finished the 5K in 18:05.1 for seventh place overall. At the Boston Coast-to-Coast meet she secured a 3.11M time of 18:09.7 for 74^th place. Most recently, the senior finished 136^th at Pre-Nationals in Louisville, Ky.

RUNNING NURSES
Seniors Boden, Blais and Short have found the same success on the cross country course, in the classroom. All three are nursing students at UNH and each of them balances the workload of school and athletics every day. Freshman Shannon Murdock (Exeter, N.H.) is also a nursing major who will be competing at the league championships this weekend.

DUE NEXT
Following the conference championship, the team will compete at the NCAA Regional Championships on Nov. 13 in Boston.

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