WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY EDGED BY NORWICH IN GNAC CHAMPIONSHIP

STANDISH, Maine – Emmanuel College just missed on a repeat of its Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Women's Cross Country Championship, as the Saints were edged by just one point at the conference meet on the campus of Saint Joseph's College on Saturday afternoon.  Norwich University tallied 66 points to claim the 2014 GNAC title, while EC finished in second place with 67 team points.

With all five scorers in the top 23 individually, Norwich managed to sneak past the Saints en route to claiming the GNAC women's cross country title for the first time in program history. Sophomore Chapel Gaurnieri (Pepperell, Mass.) paced the Cadets and claimed top individual accolades with a 20:49 performance, five seconds ahead of Saint Joseph's senior Heather Eaton (Lincolnville, Maine).

Monks senior Amber Dostie (Standish, Maine), the winner of the last three GNAC Championship races, finished third with a 21:02 time, Emmanuel College's rookie senior Martina Benassi (North Haven, Conn.) placed fourth with a 21:07 effort, and University of Saint Joseph sophomore Kaneen Gomez-Hixon (Wethersfield, Conn.) raced to a fifth-place finish with a 21:31 performance.

Simmons College placed third with 75 points, Johnson & Wales University finished fourth with 82 and Saint Joseph's was fifth with 112. Anna Maria College (141 points), University of Saint Joseph (175), Mount Ida College (257), Lasell College (265) and Suffolk University (293) rounded out the field of 10 scoring programs. Rivier University also competed in the event but did not score.

With the individual victory, Guarnieri collected GNAC Runner of the Year honors, while Emmanue's Benassi claimed GNAC Rookie of the Year accolades after finishing as the top first-year runner. Emmanuel Head Coach Tony DaRocha was selected, by a vote of his peers, as the GNAC Coach of the Year, an honor DaRocha is receiving for the sixth time in his tenured career with the Saints.

Following Benassi for the Saints was senior captain Chloe Egan (Burlington, Vt.) in 11th place out of the field of 103 runners with her time of 22:08.  Junior Janelle Winship (Prospect, Me.) ran 3rd for the Saints and 15th overall with her time of 22:20.  Freshman Haylee Krenzer (Haverhill, Mass.) and junior Chloe Pangonis (Keene, N.H.) finished in 18th and 19th places, respectively, to round out the top five scorers for EC.

Yearly Awards:
Women's Runner of the Year - Chapel Guarnieri, Norwich
Women's Rookie of the Year - Martina Benassi, Emmanuel
Women's Coach of the Year - Tony DaRocha, Emmanuel

Women's All-Conference
Chapel Guarnieri (So.), Norwich
Heather Eaton (Sr.), Saint Joseph's
Amber Dostie (Sr.), Saint Joseph's
Martina Benassi (Sr.), Emmanuel
Kaneen Gomez-Hixson (So.), Univ. of Saint Joseph
Kara MacLean (Jr.), Simmons
Kristen Caroselli (So.), Johnson & Wales
Haddie Lary (Fr.), Norwich
Kristen Decesare (Sr.), Johnson & Wales
Maureen Moore (So.), Anna Maria

- Courtesy of Saint Joseph's College Sports Information