University of Massachusets Athletics
Women?s Cross Country Opens Season In Boston
September 06, 1999 | Women's Cross Country
Sept. 6, 1999
THE WEEK AHEAD: UMass travels to Franklin Park in Boston for a quad meet hosted by Boston College on Friday, Sept. 10 at 3:30 p.m. Also competing in the meet will be Connecticut and New Hampshire.
1999 PREVIEW: The Minutewomen will be gunning for their fifth consecutive Atlantic 10 title. Look for sophomore Kristin Cisowski (Salem, N.H.) to pace the Minutewomen this season. Cisowski won the individual Atlantic-10 Championship last season. Senior Sally Hirsch (Brookline, Mass.) and Junior Melissa Henderson (Abington, Mass.) will also be key contributors. Both are two-time All Atlantic-10 selections.
BACK ON TOP: The Minutewomen are picked to repeat as conference champions again this year in the preseason Atlantic-10 coaches poll. The team returns 10 of 11 starters from last season?s championship team.
HEAD COACH JULIE LaFRENIERE: Julie Lafreniere enters her 13th season at the helm of Minutewomen cross country/track & field teams. She has led the team to six out of the last eight Atlantic-10 cross country titles, including the last four in a row. While an undergradate 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 five times, in 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996 and 1997.