University of Connecticut Athletics
Women's Cross Country Opens 2015 Season at Minutemen Invitational
9/10/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
AMHERST, Mass. - After finishing second at the second-ever American Athletic Conference championships last November, the UConn women's cross team is gearing up for the 2015 season, which is set to begin in Amherst, Mass. on Saturday, Sept. 12 with the Minutemen Invitational.
The 5K race, which is being hosted by UMass, will begin at 11:30 a.m. Results will be available shortly after the conclusion of the race at TFRRS.org.
On Thursday, the team announced that seniors Emily Durgin, Emily Howard and Terra Briody will serve as tri-captains for the 2015 campaign. Durgin claimed first-place at the conference meet a season ago, finishing the 6K race in 20:29, before crossing the line in 20:30.98 at the NCAA Northeast Regional to claim 12 th overall and earned an at-large individual bid to the NCAA Championships. Howard opened her junior season with a sixth-place result (13:50) at the Lights Out Invitational and also took 127th at the 2014 Coast-to-Coast Battle in Beantown at Franklin Park in Boston, while Briody earned a 121 st -place finish (19:05.87) at the New England Championships during her redshirt-junior campaign.
"I'm excited for the start of the season," said second-year head coach J.J. Clark. "Certainly, we'll miss Lauren Sara but I believe we have some great pieces to compete for a conference championship. I know our staff is looking forward to get the ball rolling this weekend."
Overall, UConn enters the season with a roster of 28, including 11 newcomers. The squad welcomed freshmen Courtney Ackerley, Mary Monda Oewel, Kelsey Swanson, Ericka Randazzo, Hannah Parker, Lindsey Kane, Hannah Fleming, Spencer Hayes, Haley Hasty to campus for the start of the 2015-16 academic year on Aug. 31.
"Our newcomers add depth to our team and will challenge eachother in practice to help improve our team as a whole," commented Clark.
The squad finished as the runner-up at the league championship in 2014, tallying 67 points and trailing only host-school Tulsa (40), which boasted four of the top-10 finishers overall. It marked UConn's best-ever American Athletic Conference finish after earning third in the league's inaugural season in 2013. The Huskies edged out conference heavyweight SMU (81), which claimed three of the top-10 individuals.
Check back with uconnhuskies.com on Saturday for a complete recap of the season-opener.
Players Mentioned
