Women's Cross Country
BYU Hawaii Claims Second Straight PacWest Title
October 31 – For the second year in a row BYU Hawaii won the Hawaiian Airlines Pacific West Conference women’s cross country championship. The 5k race, held at Speedway Meadows in Golden Gate Park featured 39 runners from seven PacWest schools.
The Seasiders placed five runners in the top-7 to score a total of 22 points followed by Hawaii Pacific (42) and Hawaii Hilo (99). Academy of Art took home fourth with a score of 104 while Grand Canyon (126), Notre Dame de Namur (151) and Chaminade (154) rounding out the team scores.
Quinn Horochuk of Hawaii Pacific overtook three BYU Hawaii runners halfway through race to claim the individual championship with a time of 18:53. Horochuk was followed by a trio of Seasiders as Lacey Krout, Lacee Kurtz and Katherine Buxton finished second, third and fourth respectively.
Natalie Benoy was the top finisher for Notre Dame de Namur, placing 19th with a time of 21:34. Iranel Zamfir finished 8th for Academy of Art while Hawaii Hilo’s Kirsta Andrew (9th), Grand Canyon’s Renee Peck (9th) and Chaminade’s Shelley Wee (29th) were the top runners for their respective schools.
In addition to Benoy, four other Argonauts completed the race with Jezabel Ortiz leading the group in 25th place. Stephanie Biehl (34th), Morganna Hayes (35th) and Hannah Giger (38th) rounded out the NDNU scoring.
The top seven runners were named First Team All-PacWest with the next seven garnering Second Team honors. BYU Hawaii and Hawaii Pacific finished with five All-Conference runners while Hawaii Hilo and Academy of Art placed two each. RESULTS
Argos Place 15th at San Francisco State Invitational
October 9 – The Notre Dame de Namur women’s cross country team competed in their third race of the season, earning a 15th place finish at the San Francisco State Invitational.
The Argonauts had five runners finish, led by Jezabel Ortiz’s 77th place finish with a time of 26:13. Natalie Benoy finished just over a minute behind Ortiz and placed 81st while Morganna Hayes (97th), Kathleen Romero (99th) and Hannah Giger (101st) rounded out the NDNU scoring.
The 16-team race was won by Alaska Anchorage who had the top-5 runners, including individual winner Ruth Keino.
The Argos race again on Saturday when they head down to Sunnyvale to run in the Bronco Invitational hosted by Santa Clara University. RESULTS
Argos Finish 6th at CSUMB Invitational
September 5 – The Notre Dame de Namur women’s cross country competed in their first event of the 2009 season with a 6th place finish at the CSU Monterey Bay Invitational.
Five Argonauts ran in the event that was won by San Francisco State. Denali Foldager from CSU Stanislaus won the individual crown with a time of 17:21.
Jezabel Ortiz was the top performer for NDNU with a 25th place finish while Stephanie Biehl placed 31st. Natalie Benoy (33rd), Elaine Gutierrez (38th) and Kathleen Romero (39th) rounded out the Argonauts score. RESULTS
Argos Finish 22nd at DII Western Regional
November 8 – The Notre Dame de Namur women’s cross country team finished 22nd at the NCAA Division II West Regional meet in La Jolla, CA on Saturday.
The Argos were one of 24 teams to participate in the Championship hosted by UC San Diego. Chico State took home the Regional Title with a combined team score of 60 while Jessica Pixler of Seattle Pacific won the individual title.
Ashley Hughey was the top performer for NDNU with a 116th place finish while Stephanie Biehl came in right behind her at 134th. Katelyn Mills (150th), Cyndi Castor (152nd) and Kathleen Romero (154th) rounded out the Argonaut’s score at 704. RESULTS
Argos Finish 5th at PacWest Championship
October 25 – Senior Ashley Hughey helped lead the Notre Dame de Namur women’s cross country team to a fifth place finish at the PacWest Championship in Laie, Hawaii.
The Argos finished behind conference champs BYU Hawaii as well as Hawaii Pacific, Hawaii Hilo and Dixie State. The Seasiders won the championship with 29 points, narrowly beating out HPU at 36 points.
Hughey was the top individual runner for NDNU, finishing in 16th place while Stephanie Biehl was less than one minute behind to earn to 22nd place. Cyndi Castor and Katelyn Mills finished 33rd and 34th respectively with Kathleen Romero rounding out the Argonaut scoring in 42nd place.
BYU Hawaii’s Amanda Whitford took home the individual title with a time of 18:22, finishing 43 seconds ahead of second place runner Johanna Berggren of HPU.
NDNU is back in action in two weeks when they travel to La Jolla for the Division II Regionals. RESULTS