Women's Cross Country | October 31, 2015

Full Results

MECHANICSVILLE, Va.-Sophomore Morgan Szekely defended her individual Atlantic 10 title on Saturday from Pole Green Park as she won the 2015 Atlantic 10 Cross Country Championships.
 
The La Salle women finished in third place overall with 111 team points on the day.
 
Szekely won the race with a time of 17:09.4 on the 5k course to become the first ever Atlantic 10 women to win the race in both their freshman and sophomore seasons. She becomes the seventh Atlantic 10 women to win two straight conference titles and the third Explorer to do so after Rachel Papin (2004-06) and Sheila Klick in 2002-03).
 
"I'm very honored to have been able to repeat as Atlantic 10 Champion," added Szekely. "I was able to get out early and just run my race."
 
Freshman Kaitlin Poiesz earned All-Atlantic 10 honors thanks to a seventh place finish and a time of 17:31.1. Poiesz was able to move up three spots from the 10 to seven from the 3.4k mark to the finish.
 
Senior Rebecca Scardelletti finished in 27^th place out of 129 women thanks to a time of 18:07.4 on the day. Sophomore Megan Connell was close behind in 29^th place as she ran a time of0 18:09.5 on the 5k course.
 
Graduate student Lauren Columbare was the final scorer on the day for the Explorers as she crossed in 18:32.6 for a 47^th place finish.
 
Juniors Kaylie McNally (84^th place, 29:05.0) and Olivia Boyer (86^th place, 19:06.7) were able to displace runners towards the team score as the sixth and seventh La Salle runners to finish.
 
Freshman Molly Dearie finished in 109^th place in her first Atlantic 10 Championship with a time of 19:35.2.
 
"It was a great day for a lot of our women," added head coach Tom Peterson. "Morgan was able to really run a great race and repeat as Atlantic 10 champion, and Kaitlin ran a great race to place seven and earn All-Conference honors at her first conference championships."
 
The Explorers return to action on November 13 when they head to Princeton to compete in the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regionals. Szekely will be looking to qualify for her second straight NCAA Championships and several other La Salle runners look to challenge for spots.