XC Women Place Fourth At America East Championship
Meet Results
VESTAL, N.Y. – The University at Albany women’s cross country team scored 82 points to finish fourth overall out of nine teams at the America East Conference Championship meet hosted by Binghamton University on Saturday. The result matches their performance from last year’s meet.
Senior Brittney Lane finished second overall, matching her performance from a year ago. Teammate Silvia Del Fava finished third, placing two UAlbany scoring runners in the top three. Lane’s time of 17:33.34 not only improves her time from the Pre-Conference meet in September by 40 seconds, but is also a new career best for 5K as well as a new school record. The previous record was held by Jessica Ortman (’09) who ran 17:36.60 at the 2006 America East Championship. Lane also holds the school record at 6K, 20:24.2, which she set last year at Northeast Regional Championships.
Del Fava crossed the finish line in 17:43.96, an improvement of 46 seconds from the Pre-Conference meet. Her time also makes her the third fastest runner at 5K in UAlbany history. Del Fava also holds UAlbany’s second fastest time ever for 6K, 20:39.2, which she set this year at LehighUniversity’s Paul Short Invitational. Both Lane and Del Fava won All-Conference recognition after the race.
Kathryn Fanning finished 18th overall with a time of 18:32.55. Johanna Smith finished 21st with a time of 18:51.81, and Molly Pezzulo took 42nd in 19:40.25 to round out UAlbany’s scoring athletes.
Completing UAlbany’s top seven were Schuyler Pruyn, who finished 46th in 19:48.97, and Brianne Bellon, who finished 72nd in 20:57.62. Also competing for UAlbany was Kasia Geiger, who finished 81st in 23:58.30. In total, five of the eight UAlbany athletes improved on their times from the Pre-Conference meet.
New Hampshire won the team title, scoring 46 points to end Stony Brook’s streak of six consecutive championships. Despite not having a runner finish in the top five, the Wildcats placed all five scoring athletes in the top 12. Stony Brook finished second, scoring 63 points. Stony Brook produced the individual champion, Olivia Burne, who completed the course in 17:30.14. Burne placed fourth in the championship race last year. Vermont took third place in the team competition, scoring 77 points. After UAlbany, there was a big drop off in points, with UMBC claiming fifth with 155 points. Hartford scored 161 points for sixth place, UMass Lowell was seventh with 193 points, Maine finished eighth with 194 points, and Binghamton finished ninth with 214 points.
Next up for UAlbany is the Northeast Regional Championship, which will see the Danes return to historic Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx on Friday, November 15.
