Keene State Raised Women's Cross Country Championship Trophy

NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass. – Keene State College placed each of its top-five finishers inside the top-10 of the individual standings as the Owls captured the program's 13th consecutive Little East Women's Cross Country Championship this afternoon at Stanley Park on the campus of Westfield State University. University of Southern Maine senior Molly Carl (York, Maine) raced to the individual championship.

Keene State was perched atop the conference team standings with 33 combined points to edge the Huskies by five markers. The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (93), Eastern Connecticut State University (110), and Rhode Island College (117) completed the five-team field.

Carl is just the first Southern Maine student-athlete to capture the Little East individual title since Penny Osborne in 1999. The senior from York, Maine covered the 5-kilometer course in a time of 18 minutes, 24.46 seconds to post the ninth fastest time in conference championship history. She also snapped the Owls 12-year streak of sporting the top Little East runner.

Senior Maggie Fitter (Branford, Conn.) was the first Keene State runner to cross the finish line, placing second overall with a time of 18 minutes, 44.01. Freshman Kait Wheeler (Jaffrey, N.H.) was the sixth runner to complete the course (19:05.83) followed closely by junior Marie Whitney () and classmate Erin Crawford (Townsend, Mass.).

2012 All-Little East Women's Cross Country Team

1. Molly Carl, University of Southern Maine
2. Maggie Fitter, Keene State College
3. Kathleen Sheehan, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
4. Jaimee Dorsey, Rhode Island College
5. Hannah Damron, University of Southern Maine
6. Kait Wheeler, Keene State College
7. Marie Whitney, Keene State College