HOLCOMBE LEADS WOMEN'S XC TO 4TH AT TCCC CHAMPIONSHIPS
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2009
SPRINGFIELD, MA. -- Gordon sophomore captain Amy Holcombe placed 5th at the Commonwealth Coast Conference Championships in a personal best time of 24:21 for the 6K course leading her team to a 4th place finish with 94 points. Holcombe was given All Conference recognition for her efforts for the 2nd consecutive year. The Gordon women won the Conference Sportsmanship Award. Roger Williams won their 9th consecutive team championship with 39 points, followed closely by Salve Regina with 40 points and UNE in 3rd with 78 points. Endicott was 5th with 127 points.
Coach John Molvar commented “This was really a terrific race for Holcombe running a huge 30 second personal best in very bad conditions. Only 3 Gordon women have ever run faster for the 6K distance.”
Individually the race was won by Salve Regina freshman Paige Pallotto in 23:31 over the 121 woman field under very difficult conditions with muggy 70 degree air, gusty winds and soft footing from the morning rain. She was followed by UNE sophomore Jess Partlow in 23:55 and Roger Williams senior and former champion Emily Tran in 3rd in 24:10.
The next scorer for Gordon was freshman Samantha Goedeke in 11th in a personal best time of 25:17, just missing All Conference by 1 spot. Molvar stated “Goedeke ran a great race and has really improved from high school. Only 8 Gordon women have run faster over the 6K distance.”
Also scoring for Gordon was sophomore Allison Lynch who placed 18th in a personal best time of 25:49. Molvar stated “Lynch wasn’t feeling great today but still ran ok.” The final scorers for Gordon were freshmen Katie Hakanson-Stacy in 32nd in 26:42 and Hannah Greenwood in 34th in 26:53. Both women ran personal best times. Regular Gordon scorers Susanna Sousa (calf) and Kelcy Rich (quad) did not make the trip due to injuries.
Molvar elaborated “Katie and Hannah both ran well today replacing the 2 injured runners and their performances ensured we held onto 4th place.”
Rounding out the top 7 for Gordon were sophomore Alissa Watson in 46th in 27:23 and junior Izabela Wisniewska in 48th in a personal best time of 27:37. Molvar added “I was happy to see Wisniewska run a personal best by 25 seconds as she had been working very hard and may have earned one of the 7 spots that get to run at the NCAA Regional meet.”
Behind Wisniewska, 12 additional Gordon runners ran personal best times including junior Whitney Dubie (55th in 28:01), senior Carolyn Heusser (58th in 28:15), sophomore Mary Dornfeld (63rd in 28:38), senior Sarah Grimes (66th in 29:05), freshman Deena Nieuwenhuis (70th in 29:49), senior Rebekah Zimmerer (71st in 29:52), sophomore Cristina Calderan (72nd in 29:56), freshmen Hannah Bentum (94th in 32:23), Virginia O’Neill (95th in 32:31), Carly Geiman (97th in 32:37), Megan Wolfe (114th in 37:51) and Sara Scalzo (116th in 39:02).
Molvar concluded “As a team we were happy to finish 4th despite having to completely rebuild the team after losing 10 of our top 12 from last year’s 2nd place team and the adversity we faced today with 2 scorers out with injury. We had 17 out of 19 women run personal best times today. We will run our B team next week at the ECAC meet at Williams and in 2 weeks we will run the NCAA Regional meet at Southern Maine.”
