2014 MEN’S AND WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY SEASON IN REVIEW

BOSTON, Mass. - The Emmanuel College Men's and Women's Cross Country Teams enjoyed another successful season in 2014.  The Emmanuel women's squad raced to a second place team finish at the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Championship, while the men's team took fourth place as a team.  After his 14^th season at the helm, Head Coach Tony DaRocha was once again named the GNAC Cross Country Coach of the Year, earning the honor for the Women's side, an honor he has now received a total of six times while coaching the Saints.

During the 2014 campaign, Emmanuel competed in eight different meets, including the GNAC Championship at Saint Joseph's College (ME) and the NCAA Division III Regional meet, hosted by Williams College.  The Saints opened the season hosting their 6^th Annual Fens Classic with the women finishing fourth and men placing sixth in the eight team field.  The women and men went on to take fifth and seventh, respectively, at the Roger Williams University Invitational the following weekend.

The slow start to the year continued at the 45^th Annual Codfish Bowl at Franklin Park as the men finished eighth and women ninth in a 12 team event on September 27.

Two idle weeks helped EC regroup and on October 11 at the Runnin' Monks Invitational, the squads rebounded for one of their best collective showings on the year with the men taking first place and the women coming in second. Junior Sean Colford (Epping, N.H.) captured the men's individual race with a first place time of 28:23 in the 8K course while senior Martina Benassi (North Haven, Conn.) was the top EC finisher in the women's 5K race in third place with a time of 21:24.

The women used that strong performance to build momentum for the 9^th Annual Saints Invitational at Franklin Park, finishing third in a highly contested 17-team field. The men struggled due to some injuries and finished 10^th overall of 20 teams in the action.

On November 1, the Saints headed back to Standish, Maine and the Saint Joseph's campus for the 2014 GNAC Championship meet in an attempt to defend their titles as both 2013 Men's and Women's GNAC Champions. In a valiant effort, the Women came up just short in the standings with a second place finish, just one point behind Norwich University. Benassi earned GNAC All-Conference and Rookie of the Year honors with a fourth place overall finish in the event. The men placed fourth on the day as Colford came up just short of repeating as the men's individual champion, finishing second by only three seconds, still earning All-Conference honors.

After racing at the women's ECAC championship, the Saints wrapped up the season running at the NCAA Division III Regional race at Williams College. The women placed 37^th in a field of 57 while the men finished 45^th in a field of 54.

The squads bid farewell to a few graduating seniors including Christopher Connelly (Quincy, Mass.), Adam Julien (New Orleans, La.), Ryan Thomas (Wakefield, Mass.), Chloe Egan (Burlington, Vt.) and Benassi.