Root Named All-CACC XC For Fourth Time

Senior Becomes First Four-Time All-Conference Golden Falcon Female

            PHILADELPHIA – Felician College senior Sarah Root (Aberdeen, NJ/Old Bridge) attained all-Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference status at the CACC Women’s Cross-Country Championship, co-hosted by the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia and Philadelphia University on Sunday morning at Belmont Plateau inside Fairmount Park. Felician finished eighth in the team standings.

            By CACC rules, the first 15 finishers in the race were automatically named all-conference. Root grabbed the 15th spot out of 87 competitors, completing the 5,000-meter (3.1-mile) course in 21 minutes, 23 seconds. She was nine seconds ahead of 16th place. Root became the first female in the 11-year history of the Golden Falcon program to be named all-conference four times. “That accomplishment is a testimony to Sarah’s consistency,” said Felician coach John Brennan. “Every year she was able to put together a solid race on the day of the championship.”

            Root led Felician to the eighth-place finish among 13 participating schools. The Golden Falcons ended the day with 226 points, 189 more than champion Philadelphia University. Sophomore Alyssa Philhower (Clifton, NJ/Clifton) ran a season-best 23:45 to place 47th. She was the Golden Falcons’ No. 2 runner for the first time this season.

Completing the Felician scoring were junior Leslie Feola (Oak Ridge, NJ/DePaul Catholic) (50th, 24:07), sophomore Jackie Rivera (Haskell, NJ/Lakeland Regional) (52nd, 24:23), and senior Kaitlyn Minehan (Ocean City, NJ/Ocean City) (69th, 26:30).

            Junior Sarah Simonetti Philadelphia earned the CACC Runner of the Year award after winning the race in 19:28. The Rams won their third straight CACC championship.
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