Nov. 28, 2012

Individual and Team Final Results

Individual Season and Career Bests

PHILADELPHIA - Under the direction of head coach Kevin Quinn and led by the veteran experience of a core group of juniors, the Saint Joseph's women's cross country team demonstrated a tremendous amount of growth and improvement in 2012. After showcasing younger talents in the earlier half of the season, the Hawks relied on the talent of its upperclassmen in addition to the spark of a pair of dynamic freshmen to place in the top half of their final four meets.

The Hawks kicked off their season on September 1 with a second-place finish at the TCNJ Blue/Gold Classic in Pennington, N.J. Junior Hannah Fuller, a 2011 All-Conference selection, led Saint Joseph's with a fourth-place individual finish in the 5k (18:48.50) while juniors Elizabeth Barrett and Emma Slattery crossed the finish line fifth and seventh, respectively. Two rookie Hawks rounded out SJU's top five as freshman Lauren Hehir finished her first collegiate 5k in 19:34.80, good for 12th place, and senior Erin Giampietro completed her first collegiate race in 20:10.20.

Saint Joseph's stayed in its home state for the final three weekends of September, running in the Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational at State College, Pa. (Sept. 8), Temple's Friend Invitational here in Philadelphia (Sept.14), and the Paul Short Invitational in Bethlehem, Pa. (Sept. 28).

A ninth-place team finish at the Harry Groves 6k saw the first glimpse of Slattery's would-be dominance as she led all Hawks with a 33rd-place individual finish out of 120 runners, crossing the finish line in 22:43. While Harry Groves provided the Hawks the opportunity to run on the eventual course of the Mid-Atlantic Regionals, the Friend Invitational allowed the younger half of the squad to run locally on the course of the Belmont Plateau at West Fairmount Park, the eventual site of the 2012 Atlantic 10 Championships. Led by junior Emily Chappell's fourth-place finish (20:51.38), Saint Joseph's took third at the meet as Chappell and classmate Darcy O'Connor finished in the top ten for the Hawks. Sophomore Taylor Oskowiak crossed the finish line in 15th overall while freshman Erin O'Leary and junior Hannah Brown each fared well in their second collegiate races, rounding out SJU's top five.

SJU closed out the first half of its season with its biggest race of the year, the prestigious Paul Short Invitational. The Hawks ran against 40 other teams comprised of 360 runners en route to a 27th-place finish in the Gold Division of the 6k race. Slattery again paced the Hawks, this time with a 90th-place finish (22:01) while Barrett finished 113th.

After being sidelined for the first three races due to injury, junior Erin James crossed the finish line in 22:17, good for 114th-place in her season debut. With the finish, James demolished her previous personal best in the 6k by 1:28, foreshadowing the impact that she would make in the latter half of the season.

Team and individual success continued in the form of a seventh-place group finish out of 25 squads at the Princeton Invitational. For the third meet in a row, Slattery led all Hawks with an eighth-place finish (21:54), crushing her personal best in the 6K by seven seconds to prove that she was only getting faster heading into the A-10 Championships. In her second consecutive race and fourth of the season, Barrett also placed in the top ten.

With the experience, talent, and success that accompanied this season's squad leading up to the most significant meet of the season, an impressive showing at the A-10 Championships was to be expected - both on the individual and team levels.

As expected, Slattery lit up the Belmont Plateau as she continued her dominance with an eighth-place finish to lead the Hawks to an eighth-place team finish out of 16 teams. The junior standout led all Hawks for the fourth consecutive time, crossing the finish line in 18:03.3, a new personal best in the 5k that would come to stand as the fastest 5k time of the season. Slattery ranked 17th after completing the first mile in 5:30.0 but increased her strength and speed, improving nine places for the eventual eighth-place finish en route to A-10 All-Conference and All-Academic honors.

"Emma gives first-class effort in everything she does, so it is no surprise that she is All-Conference in athletics as well as academics," said Quinn. "She is a relentless and ferocious competitor and a joy to work with."

In her first A-10 Championship, James finished 19th overall while Fuller, Chappell, and Barrett rounded out the top five for the Hawks.

Two pleasant surprises in both the championship meet and season as a whole came in Hehir and fellow freshman Sara Radzwilka, who both added points for SJU as they finished 91st and 92nd, respectively. Quinn believes that the future of these rookies will be promising on Hawk Hill.

"This was their `Welcome-to-college-cross-country year,'" Quinn said of his standout freshmen. "They will both be valuable contributors and competitors on next year's team."

Following the A-10s were two of the most integral meets of the season: the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional on November 9 and the ECACs on November 18.

At the regional meet, James came through with a 39th-place finish in the 6k event to help the Hawks to an 11th-place finish out of 31 teams. James ran the race in 21:47, a new personal best in the 6k that would go on to be the fastest 6k time of the season. Fuller crossed the finish line next for the Hawks in 61st with a personal-best 22:13 in the 6k. Both James and Fuller overcame injuries to help the squad at this point late in the season.

"Erin and Hannah were both sorely missed during the middle of the season but returned to make significant contributions to the late season success of the team," boasted Quinn.

Chappell and Barrett placed next for the Hawks, Barrett in her sixth meet of the season and Chappell in her fifth consecutive race. Chappell finished the 6k in 22:15, slicing 29 seconds off a personal best that she had set just four weeks prior at Princeton. Barrett would place 80th en route to tying for a team-best in most meets ran with six.

"Lizzie has made great advances in cross country," said Quinn. "Thought of more as a track athlete, she was a solid contributor and leader, not only in meets but practice as well. Emily, through her hard work and determination, has made herself into a major contributor to the team's success."

On November 17, the Hawks competed at the 2012 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championships. The race, which was held at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, N.Y., saw 101 runners from 11 different universities compete. Led by Slattery's convincing seventh-place finish, the team finished fourth overall, placing ahead of all other Atlantic 10 teams to improve six places from its overall team finish from 2011.

Slattery crossed the finish line with a 5k time of 18:09.0, just 1.2 seconds behind the fifth-place finisher and 18.5 seconds behind the meet winner. The junior finished the season having led all SJU runners in five different meets while placing in the top ten of four of her six meets.

"Meteoric may best describe Emma's appearance on the SJU cross country scene," beamed Quinn. "With no high school cross country experience and missing all freshman and half of sophomore cross country due to injury, in a year and two weeks she went from winning her debut cross country race, the open race at Princeton in October of 2011 to All-Conference and a threat to win it all next year."

As could be predicted, juniors James, Fuller, Barrett, and Chappell rounded out the Hawks' top five with strong times, displaying nothing short of the utmost promise of their senior seasons.

"With an impressive group of returning upperclassmen and the anticipated return of Maureen O'Donnell, the Hawks are looking forward to 2013 as a season of great expectation and anticipation," said Quinn.