LANCASTER, Pa. – The SUNY Cobleskill women’s cross country team claimed its eighth straight North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) title after totaling 25 points during the championship race, which was held on the campus of Lancaster Bible College Saturday. 

The Fighting Tigers boasted the top three individual finishers while placing its top-five point-getters in the top 13 on the day.  Leading the way was freshman Emma Bayuk (Sandy Hook, Conn.), who claimed the individual title after being the first to cross the finish line of the six-kilometer trek with a time of 23:21.22 to top the 92-runner field.  The performance also helped Bayuk garner both the NEAC Runner of the Year and NEAC Rookie of the Year honors, capping a tremendous season in which she was named NEAC Runner of the Week three times and Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Rookie of the Week twice. 

SUNY Cobleskill senior and last year’s NEAC Runner of the Year Taylor Tommell (Guilderland, N.Y.) placed second overall, while sophomore and last year’s Rookie of the Year Quinn Porter (Ballston Spa, N.Y.) placed third.  Junior AnnaClaire Piersiak (Staten Island, N.Y.) would finish in sixth place while freshman Abigail O’Brien (Stockon, N.Y.) placed 13^th overall.  All five runners landed on the NEAC All-Conference Team behind the guidance of Fighting Tiger head coach Mitch Tomaszkiewicz, who was selected by his peers as the NEAC Coach of the Year following another successful title defense.  This is the third straight year and sixth time in his career that Tomaszkiewicz has earned the honor.

Cazenovia College took home runner-up honors for the third straight year after posting a team total of 99 points.  Penn State Abington placed third with 125 points, followed closely in fourth by Keuka College with 128 points.  Host Lancaster Bible College came in fifth with 141 points and Morrisville State placed sixth with 166 points to round out the top-half of the 12-team field. Full results can be found here. 

Please click here to view a PDF of the 2016 NEAC All-Conference First Team, Second Team and Third Team honorees.  The selections were determined based on finish times at the championship race, with the top-seven finishers making up the first team, followed by the 8th-14th finishers on the second team and the 15th-21st finishers on the third team.

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The North Eastern Athletic Conference has fourteen NCAA Division III member institutions which include: Bryn Athyn College, Cazenovia College, College of St. Elizabeth, Gallaudet University, Keuka College, Lancaster Bible College, Pennsylvania College of Technology, Pennsylvania State University - Abington, Pennsylvania State University - Berks, SUNY Cobleskill, SUNY Institute of Technology, SUNY Morrisville State College, Wells College, and Wilson College.  Associate members are: Cedar Crest College (W Swimming), D’Youville College (M Volleyball), Hilbert College (M Lacrosse & M Volleyball), Medaille College (M&W Lacrosse & M Volleyball), Penn State Altoona (M Volleyball) and Rutgers University - Camden (M Golf).  The North Eastern Athletic Conference has partnered with the North Atlantic Conference in the sports of field hockey and men’s and women’s tennis.