BENASSI, COLFORD, DAROCHA EARN GNAC CROSS COUNTRY HONORS

BOSTON, Mass. – Following the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Championship meet this past Saturday, several members of the Emmanuel College Saints were honored with post-season awards.  Both Martina Benassi (North Haven, Conn.) and Sean Colford (Epping, N.H.) earned GNAC All-Conference honors for their top-ten finishes on championship day.  Benassi was also named the 2014 GNAC Women's Cross Country Rookie of the Year, as the top first-year finisher in the meet, while Head Coach Tony DaRocha was voted the 2014 GNAC Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year.

Benassi, a senior on the Emmanuel Women's Team, raced to a 4th place finish in the GNAC Championship on the Saint Joseph's College campus.  Benassi crossed the line in 21:07, finishing just 22 seconds off her personal best 5k time of 20:45 and 14 seconds better than she ran on this same course just three weeks previously at the Runnin' Monks Invite. Finishing as the top first-year runner, Benassi was tabbed the conference's Rookie of the Year, along with her top-ten All-Conference finish.  She was also named the GNAC's Rookie of the Week on November 3rd, an honor she has now earned for the third time this season.

Colford, a junior captain for the Saints Men's Cross Country Team, raced to a 2nd place finish in the GNAC men's championship, leaning at the tape to hold off his Johnson & Wales opponent.  Colford's 8k time of 28:12 was good enough for GNAC runner-up and All-Conference honors and was 11 seconds quicker than he had run on the same course just three weeks prior.  His 2nd place finish helped lead the Emmanuel men to a 4th place team finish.  The winner of the GNAC Championship as a sophomore, Colford was named the 2013 GNAC Runner of the Year.  He has also been selected the conference's Runner of the Week seven times over his career, including twice this season and five times last year as a sophomore.

DaRocha, now in his 14th season at the helm of all six of Emmanuel's running programs, was voted by his peers the 2014 Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year.  DaRocha's women's team finished 2nd at the GNACs, getting edged at the tape by just one point by Norwich University.  Last year, he led both the Emmanuel men and women to their programs' first GNAC Cross Country titles.  His 2014 Coach of the Year honor marks the sixth time DaRocha has been voted the GNAC Cross Country Coach of the Year.  He was also named the Women's Coach of the Year in 2007 and 2011, as well as the Men's Coach of the Year in 2008, 2010 and 2012.

With the conference championships now in the books, DaRocha and the Saints will compete in a couple of post-season meets. The Emmanuel women will run this Saturday, November 8th, in the ECAC New England Championships at Westfield State University.  Both, the men and the women, will also run on Saturday, November 15th, at the NCAA Regional Championships at Williams College.

View the PHOTOS from the 2014 GNAC Championship.