The Empire 8 announced its 2010 Women’s Cross Country All-Conference team. Junior Heidi Baumbach of conference champion Ithaca College received Runner of the Meet recognition for finishing first in a time of 18:13 over the five-kilometer Saratoga State Park course, the site of the Empire 8 championship. Baumbach, the 2008 Rookie of the Meet, ran to first-team honors for the third time in as many years.
The top seven finishers were named to the all-conference first team with the next seven finishers earning second-team honors. Katie Day of Utica College finished fifth to earn first-team all-conference and Rookie of the Meet accolades as the top first-year runner in the championship.
Each of the other five members of the all-conference first team were from Ithaca with nine Bombers making the first or second teams.
Senior Alissa Kersey finished second to Baumbach, her first time on the first team after earning second-team recognition in 2007 and 2008. Sophomore Jenn Randall, the Empire 8 Runner of the Meet and Rookie of the Meet last year, placed third this time.
Senior Catherine Ortiz (fourth), first-year runner Jodi Robinson (sixth), and sophomore Megan Schenk (seventh) rounded out the Bombers’ first-team runners. Ortiz ran to second-team recognition each of the past two years.
One member of each team was named that institution’s representative on the 2010 Women’s Cross Country Sportswoman of the Year Team. Empire 8 emphasizes that "Competing with Honor and Integrity" is an essential component of a student-athlete’s experience in conjunction with an institution’s educational mission. These honorees have distinguished themselves and consistently exhibit the critical traits as outstanding sportswomen.
Empire 8 2010 Women’s Cross Country All-Conference Awards
Runner of the Meet: Heidi Baumbach, Ithaca College
Rookie of the Meet: Katie Day, Utica College
All-Conference Release