Release courtesy of ACPHS Athletics
Virginia Beach, Va. - The Lady Panther Harriers were in action Friday at the United States Collegiate Athletic Association National Championships hosted by the Virginia Beach Sportsplex. The women's team finished third out of twenty two teams in the field for their first top three finish in the program's history. Senior Captain, Jessica Monzyk, finished first for the Panthers and fifth overall in a time of 23:34 on the six kilometer course in her last collegiate race. Monzyk was named first team All-American by virtue of her top seven finish. This is Monzyk's third straight first team honor having also received second team honors her freshman year. Sophomore Catherine Phelpsfinished next for the Lady Panthers in thirteenth place overall with a new personal best time of 24:15. Phelps earned second team All-American status for her top fourteen finish. Junior Captain Julia Lindsay finished fourteenth overall with a new personal best time of 24:16. Lindsay earned her second straight second team All-American award for her top fourteen finish. Junior Nicole Kulakowski finished in forty seventh place with a new personal best time of 26:15. Junior Maura Fali rounded out the Lady Panthers scoring five with a fifty second place finish in a new personal best time of 26:40. Senior Chiara Evans, in her last collegiate race, and Freshman Abigail Bleier finished as the Lady Panthers displacers in fifty ninth and sixty first place(s) respectively. Freshman Gianna D'Angelo, Junior Geralyn Swald, and Senior Hillary Morse, in her last collegiate race, were also in action today finishing in seventy third, eighty sixth, and ninety ninth place(s) respectively. The Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences women's cross country team was one of two programs to have three All-Americans in their scoring five. On Thursday night at the USCAA Fall Championships Banquet, hosted by the Virginia Beach Convention Center, twelve Lady Panther Harriers were named USCAA Academic All-Americans. In order to be named an Academic All-American you must have sophomore standing and maintain a grade point average of three point five or higher.
"The ladies had their eyes set on taking third place today and they ran an aggressive race in their first six kilometer race since September to take a top three team finish. A total of nine Lady Panthers out of ten set new personal bests and with numbers like those it's hard to not perform well," said Head Coach Thomas Hartnett Jr.
Today's national championship meet marks the end of the 2016 cross country season.
USCAA ALL-AMERICANS:
Jessica Monzyk, 1st Team All-American
Catherine Phelps, 2nd Team All-American
Julia Lindsay, 2nd Team All-American
USCAA ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICANS:
Abigail Bleier
Chiara Evans
Maura Falli
Nicole Kulakowski
Julia Lindsay
Jessica Monzyk
Catherine Phelps
Geralyn Swald
