Utica Sweeps the 2017 Women's Cross Country Awards
The Empire 8 Conference coaches have voted and Utica College has swept the 2017 yearly women’s cross country awards. It is the seventh time a school has swept the awards since the yearly awards began in 2003.
Runner of the Year: Kaitlyn Stinson, Utica
Stinson concluded the 2017 season with a 23rd place finish at the NCAA Regional meet with a season best time of 22:45.6. Her time ranks the third fastest 6K time in Pioneer program history. Stinson won the Empire 8 individual 6K championship race on an extremely tough course with a time of 23:55.4 to become the first runner from Utica to claim the individual title. She also won the SUNY Poly Short Course Invite on Sept. 2 with a time of 23:00.
Rookie of the Year: Jessica Ostrowski, Utica
Ostrowski was the top freshman runner at the Empire 8 championships with a fourth place finish (24.29.1) over the 6K course. She was the fifth freshman at the NCAA Regional meet, as she placed 35 out of 285 runners in the 6K race with a season best time of 22:57.5 to help Utica to a 13th place team finish. Ostrowski is the second Utica runner to earn Rookie honors, joining previous honoree Katie Day (2010).
Coaching Staff of the Year: Utica College
Head Coach Eric Parker and the Utica coaching staff earned the top-coaching award for the first time. Utica posted 29 points and won its first Empire 8 Conference Championship in program-history on October 28. Seven Utica athletes finished in the top-20 and four of those earned first-team all-conference and three earned second-team honors. On Nov. 11, the Pioneers recorded their best finish as a team in program history at the NCAA Regional, earning 13th place among the 41 schools competing at the event.
Sportsmanship Team
In addition, one member of each team was named that institution’s representative on the 2017 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.
The first and second team all-conference teams were announced following the conclusion of the championship.
Runner of the Year: Kaitlyn Stinson, Utica
Rookie of the Year: Jessica Ostrowski, Utica
Coaching Staff of the Year: Utica College
First Team All Conference
Name School
Kaitlyn Stinson Utica
Makenna Cooley Utica
Brea Veilleux Stevens
Jessica Ostrowski Utica
Shelby Langlois Houghton
Kristen Okorn Stevens
Claire Tantillo Stevens
Renee Lewis Utica
Claire Ludington Nazareth
Sydney Swan St. John Fisher
Second Team All Conference
Name School
Juliette Miller St. John Fisher
Jackie Endres Stevens
Brenna Lyons St. John Fisher
Kaitlyn Phillips Utica
Emily Blosdale Houghton
Kristin Daino Utica
McKayla Crawford St. John Fisher
Paige Metzheiser Stevens
Anastasia Filippone Utica
Kiera Sheridan Stevens
Sportswoman of the Year
Name School
Tracy Johnston Alfred University
Kaitlyn Ritz Elmira College
Allison Brody Hartwick College
Abigail Naylor Houghton College
Lauren Guilfoil Nazareth College
Sagan Leggett Sage College
Brenna Lyons St. John Fisher College
Kiera Sheridan Stevens Institute of Technology
Katrina Scalzo Utica College