SAINTS STAY THE COURSE FOR LANDMARK CROSS COUNTRY SEASON

Now in their 13th year at Emmanuel, Head Coach Tony DaRocha and Assistant Coach Alice Kramer have been at the helm of the Saints Cross Country and Track & Field programs since their inception back in 2001. The journey has been a long one for the two tenured coaches, but their hard work and dedication yielded tremendous success this year.

When the College first transitioned to co-educational over a decade ago, the Saints merely strived to meet NCAA minimum standards, of just five men competing in each cross country meet.  Today, the programs perform at a whole different level.  DaRocha and Kramer have built two championship teams with combined men’s and women’s roster sizes often north of forty athletes.

After a successful campaign during the regular season this past Fall, the Saints put the icing on the cake with a pair of conference championships. With the November sun shining on the campus of Saint Joseph’s College in Standish, Maine, Emmanuel made history, winning BOTH, the men’s and women’s GNAC titles.  Program-firsts on that historic day included: Emmanuel's first-ever GNAC Cross Country Championships, the Saints' first-ever men's team championship in any sport and the first time Emmanuel has ever won multiple championships in a single season.

The Saints entered the 2013 season with wining the GNAC Championships as their ultimate goal.  “It is a great feeling to know that all our hard work has finally paid off. It has been years in the making, but we accomplished our goal,” commented DaRocha.  Emmanuel had been on the brink of history for the past several years, with the men finishing 2nd at the championship meet in 2012 and in 2010 and the women capturing 2nd in 2011.  “We had come close so many times, both on the men’s and women’s sides, that to win both championships on the same day this year, made it even sweeter.”

Through consistency and dedication, DaRocha and Kramer have assembled a program, which prides itself on camaraderie and resilience.  “They are the most supportive and caring coaches I could have ever asked for, and I give them so much credit for everything they do for our teams,” said women’s team captain Amy DeNuzzio (’14).  “I have accomplished things I didn't even know were possible because they are my coaches.”

The women’s title came first that memorable day, with four of the top ten individual finishers in the 5k race wearing Emmanuel’s blue and gold uniforms. The Saints then completed the sweep, as the Emmanuel men raced to a team championship in the 8k event, paced by Sean Colford (’16), who took home GNAC Runner of the Year honors, becoming Emmanuel’s first-ever men’s individual conference champion.

The Saints take great pride in their achievements this year, but also in the groundwork laid over years past.  “This team has been my family since freshman year, and I couldn't ask for better teammates to win a championship with,” noted four-year standout Meaghan Mauer (’14).

Clearly aligned with the Division III philosophy, the Saints are not only now heralded as one of the top cross country programs on the area courses, they are also highly successful in the classrooms at Emmanuel as well.  Both, the Emmanuel men’s and women’s cross country teams earned United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Academic honors in 2013 by combining for over a 3.1 cumulative grade point average.