Mary Washington Edges York For 2012 CAC Women's Cross Country Crown
Mary Washington outdueled York and four-time defending CAC champion Salisbury to win the 2012 CAC Women’s Cross Country Championship at a difficult Maplehurst Country Club in Frostburg, Md.
Mary Washington won its first crown in five years, and 14th in the 21-year history of the CAC, by scoring 29 points to edge second-place York (35) and four-time defending CAC champion Salisbury (70).
UMW sophomore Tara Landy covered the rolling 6K course in 23:53.38, one of five Eagles to finish among the top nine in the race. Landy, who captured the individual crown for UMW for the second-straight year and fifth time in the last six years, was named the 2012 CAC Women’s Cross Country Athlete Of The Year.
Freshman teammate Lauren Braney placed sixth overall but was named the CAC Women’s Cross Country Rookie of the Year. Braney, the first UMW runner to win the rookie award since 2000 (and just the fifth in CAC history), finished in 24:47.34.
Completing the team scoring for UMW were junior Liz Green, the 2011 CAC Champion who finished fifth overall, along with Trinity Smyth (eighth) and Colleen Boyle (ninth).
Mary Washington’s Stan Soper was named the CAC Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year for the first time since 2008 and the 11th since 1991.
Sophomores Jess Miller (third, 24:25.63) and Caroline Delany (fourth, 24:27.13), along with senior Tuesday Wilson (seventh, 24:48.51), all earned first-team All-CAC recognition and led York to second place in the team standings – the Spartans’ highest finish in CAC championship history. Also contributing for the Spartans were Misty Parshall (11th) and Nicole Danielawicz (14th).
Southern Virginia, which is a probational NCAA Division III member and therefore ineligible to record a team score in its first CAC Championship competition, had three runners earn second-team All-CAC recognition, including freshman Jacey Moore (10th) and sophomores Tori Faulkner (12th) and Leah Huber (13th).
Supporting Spinapont in Salisbury’s charge to third place in the team standings was senior Jessie Early, who placed 15th overall in 25:37.12.
Rounding out the team scoring were fourth-place St. Mary’s (114), fifth-place Marymount (148), sixth-place Frostburg State (177) and seventh-place Wesley (194).