Cross country takes second at NECC Championships
CHICOPEE, MA - The Wheelock women's cross country team notched a second place finish, tying Mitchell College with 70 points, at the New England Collegiate Conference Championships hosted by Elms College Saturday morning. The finish is the highest by a Wheelock team since the NECC was formed in 2008. The Lesley University women's team won the conference championship, placing all five runners in the top ten.
For the second year in a row, Kate Needham (North Conway, NH) led the Wildcats, taking the top spot for Wheelock and earning all-conference honors yet again. In the two year history of the program, the senior has placed first in every meet. In Saturday's meet, Maria Sideri (North Andover, Mass.), Kelly Meehan (Salem, Mass.), and Elizabeth Connolly (Belchertown, Mass.) all turned in personal best performances, while Kailah Simon (Norwalk, Conn.), Cara McAuliffe (Nashua, NH), and Sarah Negron (Whitinsville, Mass.) each ran their second fastest time of the season.
Simon (24:29) took the second spot for Wheelock and 16th overall, while Sideri earned the third spot with her personal best of 25:01. The sophomore has knocked an astounding four minutes off of her time since the first meet of the season. Connelly's (25:23) personal best secured fourth place for the Wildcats; an improvement of three minutes from her first meet of the year. Meehan ‘s personal best (25:47) was an improvement of almost a minute over her previous top performance at the Saints' Invitational two weeks ago.
On the women's side, Kupfer registered a time of 20:19 en route
to claiming Runner of the Year honors. All five of Lesley's scoring
runners crossed the finish line in the top 10, powering the Lynx to
an overall score of 17. Kupfer, a freshman, also garnered Rookie of
the Year honors. Teammates Elize McKelvey (Baltimore, OH) and
Elissa May (Middleboro, MA) finished second and third in the
race, collecting times of 21:25 and 21:51 respectively.
For the women, Lelsey earned top honors, followed by a two-way tie
for second place between Newbury and Wheelock who each tallied 70
points. Mitchell followed in fourth with 119, Southern Vermont
scored 124, and Daniel Webster rounded out the six-team field with
137.
Lesley head coach Dan Flynn earned men's coach of the year honors,
while Joe McConkey of Newbury notched coach of the year honors on
the women's side. Elms earned team sportsmanship honors on the
men's side, while Southern Vermont claimed the accolade on the
women's side.
