Regan, Lovett and Ithaca Coaching Staff Earn Top E8 2014 Season Awards
The Empire 8 Conference has honored Stevens Institute of Technology junior
Amy Regan yet again with Runner of the Year honors. Nazareth College freshman
Kimberly Lovett was tabbed the Rookie of the Year and
Ithaca College was selected the E8 Women’s Coaching Staff of the Year.
Regan concluded the 2014 season the way every athlete hopes to, by winning the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championship. Her win as epic, marking the first time and E8 runner has won the title and she did so with a final burst to win by six seconds and a final time of 20:51. The USTFCCCA Athlete of the Year secured her third straight bid to the national meet with a first place finish in the Atlantic Regional meet (21:05.8), which earned her Atlantic Regional Woman of the Year. At the Empire 8 Championship she because the first student-athlete to ever win three consecutive titles. Regan clocked a time of 17:03 on the 3.04-mile course to establish a new meet record and beat the next closest runner by 53 seconds. Regan's time was also 26 seconds faster than the old meet record.
Lovett was the top freshman runner at the Empire 8 championships with a 21st place finish (19:11) over the 3.04 mile course. She placed 133 out of 272 runners at the NCAA Atlantic Regionals with a time of 24:30 and was a constant scorer for Nazareth all season.
Head Coach Erin Dinan and the Bomber coaching staff earned the top-coaching award. Ithaca claimed its 12th straight conference title in October, remaining the only school to be crowned Empire 8 champions since the conference first started to sponsor the sport in 2003. All seven Ithaca athletes finished in the top-15 and five of those earned top-10 finishes. Other highlights for the Bombers this season included a second place finish out of 10-teams at the New York State Collegiate Track Conference (NYSCTC) Championships. And Ithaca concluded its season with a fifth place finish out of 40 teams at the NCAA Regional Championship. It marked the 26th time that Ithaca has placed among the top-five teams at the regionals in the last 32 years.
In addition, one member of each team was named that institution’s representative on the 2014 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 2014 Women’s Cross Country All-Conference Awards
Player of the Year: Amy Regan, Stevens Institute of Technology
Rookie of the Year: Kimberly Lovett, Nazareth Colelge
Coaching Staff of the Year: Ithaca College
Sportswoman of the Year
Name, School
Lindsay Piraino, Alfred University
Blaithe Donovan, Elmira College
Elsa Bock, Hartwick College
Cara Davenport, Houghton College
Emily Krakowski, Ithaca College
Jamie DiSalvo, Nazareth College
Samantha VanGee, St. John Fisher College
Kate Moyer, Stevens Institute of Technology
Savannah Bernardin, Utica College
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