Mendelson Wins NEC Title, Women's Team Second Overall
Sophomore Brittany Mendelson helps lead the Blue Devils to a second place team finish at the 2015 Cross Country Championships.
Sophomore Brittany Mendelson won the Northeast Conference individual cross country championship on Saturday, and helped lead Central Connecticut to a second place team finish. It marks the second straight year a Blue Devil has earned medalist honors at the NEC championships meet (Elizabeth Eberhardt - 2014). The Championships were held at Bryant University in Smithfield, RI.
Mendelson's win paced the Blue Devils to the second place team finish, the best finish by the CCSU women's cross country team since they won back-to-back titles in 1998 and 1999. Central finished first, seventh, 15th, 22nd and 24th overall. Mendelson led the way, completing the 5k course with a blistering time of 17:38.4, 26.4 seconds ahead of the second place finisher to earn the gold medal at the meet.
Senior Mara Lieberman recorded the other top-10 finish for the Blue Devils. She turned in a time of 18:25.5 to earn a seventh place result. Classmate Ally Gates finished 15th for CCSU, crossing the finish line at the 18:40.5 mark.
Freshman Madeline Mondo was the next Blue Devil to cross the finish line for Central. The rookie sped to a time of 19:03.7 in the first cross country championship meet of her career. Fellow freshman Dawn Hubbell was the final scoring runner for the Blue Devils. She turned in a time of 19:12.7 to earn a 26th place overall finish.
Sophomore Victoria Cronin and senior Jazmin Booker also competed for Central at the meet, finishing 27th and 36th respectively. Cronin finished with a time of 19:20.4 and Booker turned in a time of 19:42.9.
Sacred Heart won the NEC Championships with a team score of 34. Central was second followed by Bryant (88), Saint Francis U (106) and Fairleigh Dickinson (173) to round out the top-five. Wagner was sixth totaling 182 points ahead of Robert Morris (184), LIU Brooklyn (212), St. Francis Brooklyn (212) and Mount St. Mary's (242 to round out the NEC ten team field.
In addition to medalist honors for Mendelson, she and Lieberman also earned all-conference honors for finishing within the top-14 positions.
Next up for the Central women's cross country team is the NCAA Regionals on Friday, November 13. They will be held at Franklin Park in Boston, MA.
