POUGHKEEPSIE, New York - Marist Women's Cross Country was voted by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) as the Preseason No. 11 team in the Northeast, it was announced Tuesday morning. This marks the first time the program has ever received a preseason regional ranking.
"We are extremely honored to be included in the preseason rankings" remarked Coach Chuck Williams. "It only gives us more motivation to work that much harder to make sure we deserve that ranking. The Northeast region is deep and we know it will take our best effort to earn that spot in the end."
In the 2017 season, Marist placed eleventh at the NCAA Division I Northeast Region Cross Country Championships, clocking in at an average time of 23:06 in the 6k. The Red Foxes had seven girls racing at this meet, and five of them placed in the top 100 runners. Gianna Tedeschi led the team as a freshman with a 50th place finish, running a 22:50.0. Shea Bohan was not far behind her at 52nd place with 22:51.9.
Marist returns six of these seven runners this season, a group that consisted of three freshmen at last year's competition. With a talented batch of freshmen added into the mix, there will be a deep roster to choose from to represent the Red Foxes at the 2018 Division I Northeast Region Cross Country Championships come November.
