Women’s XC Recap
Philadelphia, PA- The Philadelphia University women's cross country team wrapped another dominating year recently, highlighted by sophomore Sarah Simonetti's (Perkasie, PA/ Pennridge) 54th place finish (22:18, 6K) at the NCAA DII National Championships in Evansville, IN. Simonetti was the first PhilaU or CACC XC runner to ever advance to the NCAA National Championships.
Simonetti punched her ticket to the nationals with a fifth-place finish (22:52, 6K) at NCAA East Regionals, held in Boston at Franklin Park. She was named to the NCAA All-East region team for her performance. As a team, PhilaU took fifth overall in Boston- helped by sophomore Anjelica DiNucci's (Baltimore, MD/ Dulaney) 21st place finish (23:59).
The Lady Rams made Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) history by winning their second-straight conference title to make it a sweep as the men's team also won at the CACC Championships on a rainy Saturday afternoon at Belmont Plateau. No other team had ever won both the men's and women's championships.
At the CACC Championship, the women were led by Simonetti who took second-overall in 20:18- her best career finish at the Championship event. Other CACC All-Conference finishers were: sophomore Dinucci in fourth (20:25), sophomore Gabrielle Dei Tos in sixth (21:31), senior Faith Anderson in seventh (21:32) and junior Kaitlin O'Leary in 12th (21:50).
