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About The Meet
-Friday, Nov. 14, 2014, the Minutewomen travel to famous Van Cortlandt Park in Bronx, N.Y., for their final meet of the season, the Northeast Regional Championship.
-The team will race eight of their top women in the 6K competition.
- Race time is slated for Noon.
-Weather for the day is expected to be mostly sunny with a high of 45 degrees. Northwest winds are forecasted for 12 mph.
Last Time Out
- The UMass Minutewomen flew to Pittsburgh for Atlantic 10 Championship 5K on Nov. 1.
- Rachel Hilliard received Atlantic 10 All-Conference honors for the first time in her career for cracking the top-15 with a seventh place individual finish and a time of 18:01.6.
- The Minutewwomen finished sixth as a team with 134 points.
-Duquesne took home the title with 58 points and an average team time of 18:08. La Salle was the runner up with 111 points. Richmond (112 points), Saint Louis (131 points) and Davidson (133 points) rounded out the top-five team finishes.
Hilliard Honored
- Rachel Hilliard received honors following her performance in the Minutemen Invitational. The senior was named co-UMass Athlete of the Week and the Atlantic 10 Women's Cross Country Performer of the week. At the meet, Hilliard lead the Minutewomen across the line, finishing fifth out of 125 competitors with a time of 17:12 (5K).
- Hilliard was recognized as the co-UMass Athlete of the Week for the second time this season on Oct. 14, after she placed fifth out of a field of 262 runners to lead the Minutewomen to an 11th place finish at the New England Championships. Her fifth-place performance marked the best individual showing by a member of the Minutewomen since 2007 when Christina Derosa took fourth out of a field of 290 (17:58). The Hookstown, Pa., native improved upon her 26th-place finish at the meet a year ago, completing the 5K in 17 minutes, 44.8 seconds.
Debut Performances
- Six of the 10 freshmen Minutewomen had their collegiate debut at the Minuteman Invitational (9/13). Kacie Quinn finished sixth for the team and 47th overall with a time of 18:55. Next came Colleen Sands to finish seventh for the team and 54th overall with a time of 19:07. Anna Capps crossed the line at 19:11 to finish ninth for the Minutewomen and 56th overall. Callie Hansson (10th for the team, 73rd overall) debuted with a time of 19:39. Renee Capps (11th for the team, 78th overall) with her time of 19:47 and Samantha Allen (12th for the team, 84thoverall) at 19:54 round out the freshmen finishes.
- Freshman Meg Rodowicz posted a time of 24:44 in her collegiate debut at the Paul Short Invitational on Oct. 4.
Who's Back
- UMass returns 13 members of its 2013 squad that competed in at least one meet last fall. Among the Minutewomen back for 2014 are six of the team's top-seven finishers from last year's conference championship, including senior Rachel Hilliard and sophomore Christine Davis.
- Hilliard was the top finisher for UMass in six of seven meets last fall, including a 19th place finish at the Atlantic 10 Championship.
New Faces
-UMass has added 10 freshmen to the roster for 2014, all hailing from the Bay State. Samantha Allen, Leila Aruri, Grace Bailly, Anna Capps, Renee Capps, Callie Hansson, Sydney May, Kacie Quinn, Meg Rodowicz and Colleen Sands join the Minutewomen this fall.
At The Helm
- Head coach Julie LaFreniere is in her 28th year at the helm of the women's cross country and track and field programs at UMass in 2014-15. LaFreniere has accumulated several coaching and team accolades during her tenure with the Minutewomen. The 1977 UMass graduate has been named the Atlantic 10 women's cross country Coach of the Year six times (1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1999) and has led the Minutewomen to seven A-10 cross country championships.
Captains Named
- Senior Katie Powers and redshirt senior Alexandra Purdue-Smithe lead the Minutewomen as co-captains for UMass women's cross country in 2014.
- Powers competed in all seven meets last season as a junior, scoring in four, with her top finish of the season coming at the CCSU Mini-Meet where she took second on the team and ninth overall with a time of 10:19.41 in the 3K. The native of Holbrook, Mass., is coming off an outstanding outdoor track & field season that saw her help the Minutewomen's 4x800 team to an A-10 Gold and third consecutive New England crown in the event.
- Purdue-Smithe saw action in every race for UMass in 2013, scoring in all seven, while finishing in the team's top-three five times. The Sharon, Mass., native placed third on the team and 31st overall at the Atlantic 10 Championships last fall with a time of 18:05.5. She holds the fourth-fastest 10,000 meter time in the program's track and field record book, 37:23.57.
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