Donegan Propels Women’s Cross Country to a Third Consecutive America East Championship

Saturday, October 31

Stony Brook, N.Y.

10 AM

University of New Hampshire

America East Championship

Photo by: Bob O'Rourk

Donegan Propels Women’s Cross Country to a Third Consecutive America East Championship

10/31/2015 1:57:00 PM | Women's Cross Country

STONY BROOK, N.Y. – Senior captain Laura Rose Donegan (Melbourne, Australia) finished second overall to lead the University of New Hampshire women's cross country team to a third straight victory at the America East Cross Country Championship at Stony Brook University, Saturday morning.

After winning the conference championship the past two seasons, New Hampshire scored 45 points for a third title in as many years. The 10-person group returned seven runners from last year's title and the experience propelled the team to a fourth total championship for the program. UNH had an average 5K time of 18 minutes, 50.34 seconds which was about 12 seconds faster than the next team. Head coach Robert Hoppler earned his third straight America East Coaching Staff of the Year award with the title.

Donegan finished the 5K race in 18:09.70 for her best time at the league championships in her Wildcat career. The senior's time earned her First Team All-Conference honors as a top-seven runner, her third All-Conference selection total in cross country. Donegan also received the Elite 18 award, after earning the hardware during the indoor track & field season in 2014. The award recognizes student-athletes who perform on the course and in the classroom. She holds a 4.0 grade point average in political science.

The University at Albany scored 57 points for second place followed by Stony Brook University in third with 77 points. The University of Massachusetts Lowell scored 98 points for fourth as the University of Marland, Baltimore County placed fifth with 110 points. The University of Vermont and Binghamton University placed sixth (145 points) and seventh (187 points), respectively. To round out the conference standings, the University of Hartford placed eighth with 250 points and the University of Maine placed ninth with 259 points.

Senior Amber Short (Keene, N.H.) finished fourth, breaking the tape in 18:36.78 followed by classmate Brianna Boden (Keene, N.H.) who finished the race in 18:54.19 for seventh place. Joining Donegan, Boden and Short received First Team All-Conference recognition being top-seven finishers. Boden earned her second All-Conference team honor after a second team selection last year.

Senior Samantha Blais (Lyndeborough, N.H.) is a member of the All-Conference Second Team with her 13^th place finish in 19:07.61. Juniors Amanda Szymanski (Londonderry, N.H.) and Sarah Keiran (Rowley, Mass.) finished back-to-back in the 19^th (19:23.38) and 20^th (19:24.08) positions, respectively.

Freshman Shannon Murdock (Exeter, N.H.) placed seventh for the Wildcats and 23^rd overall for the final scoring spot, breaking the tape in 19:32.93.

New Hampshire will compete at the NCAA Cross Country Regional Championships on Friday, Nov. 13 at Franklin Park in Boston.

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