Nov. 1, 2008
Results
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Navy women's cross country runner Amy Watson (Jr./Hampstead, Md.) boasted the fastest time of the day to lead the Midshipmen to a Patriot League Championship at the Lehigh Cross Country Course on Saturday morning.
It marks the second-straight year that Navy has won the Patriot League title and the first time in program history that it has won the crown outright. Last fall, the Midshipmen tied with Bucknell for first place at the league championship.
The Midshipmen delivered five of the nine-best times of the morning to rack up a championship-low score of 23 points. Bucknell placed second with 62 points - 39 more than Navy's showing. Lehigh landed in third place with 93 points, followed by Army's 96 points, American's 154 points, Holy Cross's 161 points, Colgate's 173 points and Lafayette's 204 points.
Navy's 23-point showing is the lowest team score since the Patriot League expanded to eight teams in 2003.
"I am so proud of our team and the way they are able to work together," stated Navy head coach Karen Boyle, this year's Patriot League Coach of the Year. "They did a great job of packing together, communicating and searching out each other. That has been the key to our success all season and it showed today."
Watson, in her first race in a month, led all runners across the finish line with a time of 21:23.5 to earn first-team all-league honors. She is the first Navy runner in program history to deliver the overall top time at the league championship.
"I was really impressed with Amy's performance in her first race back," Boyle said. "We were pleasantly surprised with how strong she was and how good she felt during and after the race."
Three Navy runners also claimed First-Team All-Patriot League distinction on Saturday. Katie Rentz (So./San Diego, Calif.) placed third with a time of 21:33.8, followed by Marina McGrail's (Fr./Manchester, Vt.) fourth-place time of 21:37.7 and Jess Palacio's (Fr./Sun Valley, Nev.) sixth-place 21:42.6 clocking.
Three additional Midshipmen runners earned Second-Team All-Patriot League kudos. Lexa Gass (Jr./Crescent, Pa.) rounded out the scoring five with a ninth-place 21:52.2 showing. Maureen Dooley (Sr./Durham, Conn.) landed in 11th place with a time of 21:57.7, followed by Anna Bernal's (Jr./Bonaire, Ga.) 14th-place 22:06.4 clocking.
The Midshipmen, ranked sixth in the latest regional poll, will return to action next Saturday when they head to the Princeton Cross Country Course for the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Region Championship.
"The momentum has just kept on rolling since our first meet of the year," said Boyle. "We are really excited going into the regional meet with some nationally-ranked teams."
