ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women's cross country team under the guidance of second-year head coach
Kim Lewnes will begin its abbreviated 2020 season on Friday with a dual meet at home against the Pitt Panthers. The 6k race at the USNA Cross Country Course at the Naval Academy's golf course is scheduled for a 5:00 p.m. start. Due to COVID-19 restrictions for the Annapolis area the general public will not be allowed to attend Friday's competition.
The Mids will look to continue improving under Lewnes as the team placed fourth at the 2019 Patriot League Championship and returns its entire scoring lineup from that meet. Due to a host of injuries to the senior class last season, the young members of the 2019 team earned a plethora of high leverage experience that should help them in 2020 and into the future. The senior duo of
Emily Craig (Reistertown, Md.) and
Annie Imhof (Great Mills, Md.) will be leaned on to lead the team as projected top-scorers. Craig is a two-time All-Patriot League performer, who placed fourth at the 2019 league championship, while Imhof was selected to serve as the Mids' team captain this season. She finshed amongtst Navy's top-seven in four races last fall.
The Class of 2021 is nine runners deep this season as
Morgan Bollinger (Lockport, Ill.),
Caroline Foley (Hockessin, Del.),
Eva Knowles (Belfair, Wash.),
Hannah Lyon (Battle Creek, Mich.),
Maddie Peterson (Flagstaff, Ariz.),
Mary Lyn Sullivan (Portsmouth, R.I.) and
Hannah Werren (Canton, Ohio) all have provided and will continue to provide important experience both on and off the course for the Navy Women's Cross Country program during the 2020 campaign.
Though with only six runners in its class, including a pair of newcomers, the juniors should have a prominent role in Navy's success in 2020. Last season, the quartet of
Anna Kovacs (Toledo, Ohio),
Meghan Sculli (Hilliard, Ohio),
Maddie Warrender (Mount Wolf, Pa.) and
Kathleen Murphy (Wesport, Conn.) all were in the lineup for the Mids at the Patriot League Championship. Kovacs was the top-finisher as she was the fourth Navy runner to complete the event in 25th place, while Sculli and Warrender were the Mids' sixth and seventh finishers in 34th and 37th place overall in the field of 110 runners. The team also has high hopes for the duo of
Jessica Nangle (Southampton, Pa.) and
Bronte Bacchetta (Atlanta, Ga.), who come in with decorated high school cross country and track & field portfolios, but have yet to suit up for the Mids in cross country competitions.
Due to the injuries that plagued Navy last fall, the Mids' sophomore class immediately received high leverage intercollegiate experience as plebes in 2019.
Elizabeth Sullivan (Portsmouth, R.I.) was a standout for Navy right out of the gate as she won the Salisbury Fall Classic in her collegiate debut and followed it up with top-five results at the Harry Lang Invite and Navy Invitational. In the second half of the season, she combined with Craig to provide Navy with a potent one-two punch at the top of its lineup. She concluded her freshman campaign with a spot on the All-Patriot League Second Team for placing 14th overall at the league championship.
Lauren Moore (Danbury, Conn.) also grew into a regular scorer for the Mids as the season progress as she was the third-best Navy runner at the Paul Short, Army-Navy Meet and Patriot League Championship.
Lael Flores (Harleysville, Pa.) and
Julia Galbraith (Glen Allen, Va.) were also consistently in the conversation to finish amongst Navy's top-seven runners as Flores did so four times, while Galbraith did on three occasions. The trio of
Winter Boese (Clark, Colo.),
Emily Ettrich (Whispering Pines, N.C.) and
Beth Miller (Roswell, Ga.) all earned important early-season reps last fall and will look to continue carving out roles with the Mids in 2020.
Alanna Julius (Minnetonka, Minn.) rounds out the sophomore class as a newcomer to the roster.
Eight freshmen dot the 2020 roster for Coach Lewnes and the Midshipmen.
Ellie Abraham (Brookings, S.D.), the two-time South Dakota State Champion, leads the list of impressive plebes to join the program.
Emily Boutin (Chicopee, Mass.) nearly joined Abraham as a state champion, as the Massachusetts native placed second at the 2019 MIAA State Championship.
Mckenna Brophy (New Hope, Pa.) and
Shannon Clancy (North Arlington, N.J.) both raced at all-state levels in high school as Brophy medaled at the Pennsylvania State Championship, while Clancy did the same at the New Jersey Championship.
Sara Jarman (Frederick, Md.),
Caroline Harding (Saint Paul, Minn.),
Cassidy Kiko (Louisville, Ohio) and
Kayla McGuire (Richmond Hill, Ga.) round out Navy's freshmen class. All four runners come in following strong high school careers.
Friday's meet is the first of three competitions for the Mids this fall. Next up will be the annual Army-Navy Star Meet will be held on Saturday, October 17 in Annapolis. A few weeks later, a service academy tri-meet is set to be hosted by Army up in New York with Air Force joining the fray for the event on November 11.
