University of Massachusets Athletics
UMass Women Win Fifth Straight Atlantic 10 Title
November 01, 1999 | Women's Cross Country
Nov. 1, 1999
THE WEEK AHEAD: UMass takes a week off in preparation for the NCAA Northeast Regional in Boston on Nov. 13.
ATLANTIC 10 CHAMPIONSHIP: The Minutewomen won their fifth straight Atlantic 10 title on Saturday at the Belmont Plateau in Philadephia. Senior Nicole Way (Marstons Mills, Mass.) paced the Minutewomen to the championship, placing third overall in 18:40.7. Sophomore Kristin Cisowski (Salem, N.H.) finished just behind Way in fourth place overall in 18:42.3. Senior Sharon Tillotson (Wantagh, N.Y.) and junior Melissa Henderson (Abington, Mass.) earned All-Atlantic 10 honors along with Way and Cisowski, finishing seventh and eighth, respectively. TEAM OF THE DECADE: The UMass Minutewomen have dominated Atlantic 10 cross country in the ?90s. The squad has won five straight titles, beginning the streak in 1995. The Minutewomen have claimed seven of the last nine titles, the first coming in 1991. Four different times, UMass has had the top runner in the Atlantic 10 Championships, including three consecutive years from 1996-98.
HEAD COACH JULIE LaFRENIERE: Julie LaFreniere is in her 13th season at the helm of Minutewomen cross country/track & field teams. She has led the team to seven out of the last nine Atlantic 10 cross country titles. While an undergraduate at UMass, LaFreniere led her team to a New England Championship and a ninth-place finish at the first women?s National Championship. The 1977 UMass graduate has been named A-10 Coach of the Year six times, in 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1999.