BRISTOL, R.I. – Junior Sarah Bohan (Guilford, Conn.) shattered her personal-best time to place fifth and lead the Simmons College women's cross country team to a second-place finish for the third straight year at the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Championship this afternoon at Colt State Park in Bristol, R.I. Head Coach Eric Ashe was named the GNAC Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year.
Norwich finished with 57 points to capture its second consecutive title, while the Sharks ended with 62 points for the five-kilometer race. Simmons boasted 10 runners, who registered personal-record times on the day. Norwich senior Haddie Lary won the individual crown with a time of 19:18.
Bohan shaved 12 seconds off her persona-record time for Simmons in an extremely fast championship field to finish with a time of 19:49 to earn First Team All-Conference accolades by virtue of a top-seven finish.
Junior Samantha Jaffe (Fayetteville, N.Y.) and senior Allegra Egizi (Beverly, Mass.) were both named to the GNAC Second Team with top-14 finishes. Jaffe was the next-best finisher after Bohan, placing ninth with a time of 20:10 to better her personal-record by four seconds for the Sharks. Egizi crossed two places behind Jaffe with a time of 20:30, to cut 21 seconds off her previous best, as one of five runners to post a top-20 finish for Simmons. First year Ellen Malloy (Acton, Mass.) recorded a personal-best time, cutting off 14 seconds in her first collegiate GNAC championship with a time of 21:00 for 17th place. Sophomore Emily Josephson (Rochester, Mass.) enjoyed a record-setting day, crossing the finish line at 21:13, good for 20th and besting her personal-best by seven seconds, to round out the scoring for Simmons. Sophomore Mary Coletti (Killingsworth, Conn.) finished two places after Josephson and crushed her personal-best with a time of 21:16, better than 26 seconds faster than her previous record.
Sophomore Christina Colliton (West Hartford, Conn.) finished 33rd overall and shattered her personal best by 50 seconds with a mark of 22:26, while junior Carol Figueiredo (Norwood, Mass.) finished a tick behind Colliton for a personal-best time. Sophomore Gabby Freeman (Newnan, Ga.) placed 41st and clocked in 49 seconds before her previous-best to set a new personal record of 23:00.
First year Mai Linh Vankirk (Essex Junction, Vt.) crossed the finish line nine slots after Freeman with a personal best time of 23:33, while junior Hannah Green (Blandford, Mass.) finished four seconds later for a 52nd-place effort. Sophomore Amelia Franklin (Bath, Maine) finished two slots later, registering a time of 23:51. Junior Kathryn Nagle (Bangor, Maine) placed 74th overall with a time of 25:18.
The Sharks race again on Saturday, November 11 in Gorham, Maine at the NCAA New England Regional Championship at Gorham Country Club at noon.