Cross country teams each corral fifth place at NEWMAC meet, Benson and Brousseau pick up all-conference honors

October 28, 2006

SOUTH HADLEY, MA- The Wheaton College men's and women's cross country teams each turned in fifth-place finishes at the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championship on Saturday at Mount Holyoke College. Juniors Megan Brousseau (Attleboro, MA/Attleboro) and Pat Benson (Foxboro, MA/Bishop Feehan) recorded each team's best finish, placing second and third, respectively.

The Lyon women collected 84 points, narrowly finishing behind Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) 82, Smith College's 77 and runner-up Wellesley College's 66. United States Coast Guard Academy took home the team title with 54 points. On the men's side, Wheaton improved upon last year's seventh-place showing by notching 148 points, four fewer than Babson College, and recording its best finish since 2004. MIT won the race with 26 points.

Brousseau was the runner up for the second straight year while corralling her third all-conference accolade. Her time of 19:55 on the 5,000-meter course was just 10 seconds out of first place. Rounding out Wheaton's finishers in the top 20 was a trio of runners, each of whom recorded career-best conference meet placements. Sophomore Amanda Rawson (Dudley, MA/Shepherd Hill Regional) was 15th in 20:46, classmate Lily Calderwood (Harvard, MA/Bromfield School) came in 17th at 20:52, while senior captain Jennifer Ziello (Litchfield, CT/Litchfield) finished 19th in a time of 20:54, improving upon her best NEWMAC meet showing by 11 spots.

Also running for Wheaton were juniors Abbe Bosk (Narberth, PA/Springside) and Jessie Buonaccorsi (Shutesbury, MA/Amherst Regional), sophomores Kathryn Paar (Cambridge, MA/Arlington Catholic) and Lauren Reddy (Walnut Creek, CA/Carondelet), and freshmen Katrina Hegeman (Dighton, MA/Dighton-Rehoboth Regional) and Katie Pratt (Litchfield, CT/Litchfield).

Benson nabbed a career-best showing and his first career all-conference nod, placing third in a time of 27:18, nearly 33 seconds behind the top runner. Five additional Lyons completed the 8,000-meter course, as senior captain Matt Peirce (Lincoln, MA/Lincoln-Sudbury Regional), sophomores Scott Hafferkamp (Merrimack, NH/Merrimack) and Dan Libon (Foxboro, MA/Foxboro), and freshmen Andrew Brunhofer (Westfield, NJ/Westfield) and Miles Souza (Norton, MA/Saint Sebastian's School) each competed.

The teams will return to action on Saturday, November 11, when the Lyons compete at the NCAA Division III New England Championship held at conference counterpart Springfield College.

Men's Team Results: (1) MIT 26, (2) Coast Guard 63, (3) Springfield 64, (4) WPI 120, (5) Wheaton 148, (6) Babson 152, (7) Clark 187

Wheaton Individual Results: (3) Pat Benson 27:18, (48) Matt Peirce 29:41, (58) Scott Hafferkamp 30:24, (63) Miles Souza 30:42, (69) Dan Libon 31:05, (84) Andrew Brunhofer 32:04

Women's Team Results: (1) Coast Guard 54, (2) Wellesley 66, (3) Smith 77, (4) MIT 82, (5) Wheaton 84, (6) WPI 177, (7) Springfield 218, (8) Mount Holyoke 219, (9) Clark 252, (10) Babson 264

Wheaton Individual Results: (2) Megan Brousseau 19:55, (15) Amanda Rawson 20:46, (17) Lily Calderwood 20:52, (19) Jennifer Ziello 20:54, (31) Katie Pratt 21:09, (36) Lauren Reddy 21:18, (46) Abbe Bosk 21:39, (63) Katrina Hegeman 22:32, (78) Jessie Buonaccorsi 23:03, (124) Kathryn Paar 27:31

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