Led by the stellar performance of senior Abigail Gugel, the Boston University women’s cross-country team secured the Patriot League Championship on Saturday afternoon at Colgate University. This is the Terrier’s third league title and their first since 2014.
Gugel, who grew up just a few hours outside of Colgate, placed first overall in the 6K race with a time of 21:42.1, 16 seconds ahead of the second place finisher. With her first place finish, Gugel became the first female Terrier runner to win an individual title since Rosa Moriello in 2014. Gugel also earned the award of Most Outstanding Runner of the Meet.
Head coach Paul Spangler, who was named Patriot League Coach of the Year, said he was very impressed by Gugel’s performance and stressed how hard she has worked throughout her career.
“It was great to see her come out in her senior year and win the championship after having a great regular season,” Spangler said. “She’s had some injuries impact her career, but she’s always stayed positive and worked really hard and it paid off.”
BU also placed three more runners in the top thirteen. Freshman Sophia Jacobs-Townsley placed 8th with a time 22:18.9, freshman Joceline Wind placed 11th with a time of 22:26.6 and junior Corrine Batsu placed 13th with a time of 22:37.2.
The trio of Jacbobs-Townsley, Wind and Batsu earned All Patriot League Second Team honors and Jacobs-Townsley was named Most Outstanding Rookie of the Meet.
Spangler said he was particularly impressed with the performance of Wind who was running in just her second collegiate race.
“One runner who really stepped it up was Joceline Wind.” Spangler said. “She was somebody who in just her second cross country race of the year really surprised us with her 11th place finish.”
Rounding out the Terrier’s top finishers was freshman Andrea Claeson who finished with a time of 22:49.2, good for 19th overall.
As a team the Terrier’s garnered a total of 52 points, which was seven points ahead of second place finisher Bucknell University who ended up with a total of 59 points and well ahead of third place United States Military Academy who had 87 points.
Junior Veronica Kriss (23:23.5) who finished 42nd, junior Laura Parkinson (23:39.8) who finished 53rd and sophomore Stephanie Casaletto (23:48.3) who finished 60th all competed for BU as well.
Despite the Terrier’s recent success, Spangler believes his team will need to continue to improve going into the NCAA Northeast Regional.
“I think going in were ranked maybe ninth or 10th in the region. We would like to go in and improve upon our rankings right now, see if we can have some girls make All-Region … and maybe have a shot to get some athletes to nationals,” Spangler said.
The NCAA Northeast Regional will take place on Nov. 15 at the University of Buffalo.
