The Quinnipiac women’s cross country team took home first place at the Quinnipiac Invitational on Saturday.
The Bobcats won their second meet of the year finishing with 15 points. Stonehill College placed second with 53 points, while Yale captured third with 79 points.
Sophomore Becca White led the Bobcats, finishing in first place with a time of 18:13 in the 5,000-meter race. The Faust triplets, nicknamed “ABC” due to their initials, followed White. Amanda’s time was 18:41, while Brianna crossed the line in 18:53 and Christina in 19:03. Junior Katie Beam completed the sweep of the top 5 spots finishing the course in 19:05.
The Northeast Conference named White the Women’s Cross Country Athlete of the Week last week after finishing third in the Central Connecticut State University Invitational.
“It was very exciting to receive [the award], especially since it was my first race of the year, but I hope to keep getting better,” White said.
Amanda Faust was also honored with an award; the NEC Rookie of the Week after her 10th place finish.
“It was really surprising after just my first race,” Amanda said. “But it gives me motivation to work hard, and hopefully our team can keep doing well.”
Amanda says she loves running with her sisters and added, “It’s amazing. We are so close. I don’t know what it would be like without them. There was no way we were separating when choosing schools.”
Quinnipiac’s Department of Athletics honored senior graduate student Kristen Stewart with a ceremony before the meet for her last race at home.
“I am so happy I came [to Quinnipiac], it’s been great, this is such a great team,” Stewart said. “I’ve had some of my greatest memories in college through the team. I can’t believe it’s coming to an end.”
Stewart finished with a time of 19:10, placing her in eighth. The senior captain is excited to lead her team in a quest for another NEC title. Quinnipiac was picked to win its sixth straight NEC Championship in a preseason poll earlier this year.
“It’s a pleasure (to lead the girls), I love them to death and everyone is so talented,” Stewart said. “I think we are going to do really well at NECs and hopefully get another championship.”
Head Coach Carolyn Martin was pleased with the effort her girls put in.
“They are running fabulous and really working together as a team,” she said. “I couldn’t be happier with the way they are running.”
The Bobcats’ depth and youth have the present and future looking very bright for the team, she added.
“We are graduating only one senior, so we are just going to continue to get better over the next few years, which is going to be very exciting to watch,” Martin said.
The Bobcats will run their next race at the Paul Short Invitational Oct. 1 at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. and is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.
Below, senior Kristen Stevens reflects on the race:
Photo credit: Matt Eisenberg, media credit: QU Athletics
