NEW ORLEANS-The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced today that Georgian Court University XC has secured 10th place in its preseason Division II East Regional rankings.
Led by defending CACC Rookie of the Year Justine Berger, the Georgian Court University Lions look to improve from CACC runners-up and regain the Cross Country Championship for the first time since 2007.
Berger (So.-Middletown, NJ), the third-place finisher in last year’s CACC Championship and 13th finisher overall in the NCAA East Regional (the highest finish ever by a GCU runner), should be a contender for the individual win.
Backing her is fellow sophomore and All-CACC member Allison Landry (So.-Ellington, CT), who finished 15th at the conference meet a year ago. Teammate Cynthia Cuiule (So.-Mt. Laurel, NJ), the Lions' #2 runner for much of last year and 56th overall finisher at the regional meet, has shown great form early on and should take a solid step forward in her sophomore year.
Two top freshmen, Katelynn Colgain (White Hall, MD) and Cassandra Lenkowski (Sewell, NJ), also look to figure in the top-5 mix this year as both bring stellar credentials from high school and have arrived on campus in great shape this fall.
Senior Krystal Belcher (Palmyra, NJ) is coming off of a great spring season that saw her improve tremendously in the middle distances and classmate Christie Gallant (Jr.-Avon, NJ) has been on of the Lions' top-7 finishers in each of the past two seasons at the CACC and NCAA Regional meets.
Other runners that hope to be included among the Lions' elite include captain and 2007 CACC Individual Champion, Heather Miara (Sr.-Sayreville, NJ), junior Amanda Cavallo (Bayville, NJ) and sophomore Erin Frye (Pt. Pleasant, NJ) .
GCU's top competition figures to be CACC rival, Philadelphia University. The winners of the last two CACC titles came in at #6 on the preseason poll.
Georgian Court looks to get off to a strong start when they commence the season at the Monmouth (University) opener, September 4th, at Thompson Park in Lincroft, NJ.