Sept. 8, 2006

The Sacred Heart University men and women's cross country teams kick-off the 2006 fall campaign on Saturday with high hopes for a successful season. "Both teams have looked quite strong during preseason practice", according to head coach Christian Morrison, who enters his 13th year at the helm of Sacred Heart's track and cross country programs.

The women have a tough act to follow, coming off the most successful season in program history. In 2005, the women won their first-ever Northeast Conference title, after finishing a close second in 2001, 2002 and 2003. The Pioneer women also won the Fairfield Invitational for the seventh time in nine years, and recorded program best finishes in the New England Championships (9th), and the ECAC Division I University Championships (3rd). Unfortunately, some rather significant graduation losses will have to be overcome if the women are to repeat in the NEC, and match or surpass the team's other stellar 2005 results.

Gone from last year's squad are tri-captains Erin Kulasewski, Jenna Pisani, and Kaitlin Clark along with their classmate Ann Regan. Kulasewski and Pisani, the biggest losses, were consistent members of Sacred Heart's top-five for the past two years. "Kulasewski ran the best race of her career in the NEC Championship", according to Morrison, placing nineth to earn All-NEC honors. Pisani, who ranks ninth on Sacred Heart's all-time list for cross country, placed 16th in the NEC meet last fall, missing All-NEC honors by only two spots. Clark (32nd) and Regan (33rd) filled the sixth and seventh varsity spots for the women in the NEC Championship.

"With four of the Pioneer's top-seven in the 2005 NEC meet gone to graduation, Sacred Heart's prospects for repeating might seem grim, but the cupboard is not bare," Morrison noted. For starters, the women's team features the top-two overall returnees from last year's championship. Senior quad-captain Katie Duffy (Monroe, CT) placed fourth in the NEC's in 2005, following up a fifth place finish in 2004, and sophomore Kathleen Henry (Basking Ridge, NJ) placed fifth while earning NEC Freshman-of-the-Year honors. The top-three overall finishers in last year's championship do not return, so that leaves Duffy and Henry at the top of the conference depth chart.

What really has Morrison feeling optimistic, however, is the development of senior quad-captain Anne Duffy, Katie's twin sister. "Annie's missed significant training time due to injury during the past two years," stated Morrison. "But she's had a great summer of training, is healthy, and looks great." After finishing 17th overall to round out Sacred Heart's top-five in the NEC last year, Duffy appears poised to make an even bigger impact in 2006. "Annie's been leading every workout this preseason," Morrison said, "and I believe she can be right there with Katie and Kathleen this fall."

"If things go our way, and we stay healthy, we could field the strongest top-three in the NEC," Morrison stated. "Still, nothing comes easy in this conference. There are so many excellent runners who return for other NEC teams not to mention a number of strong freshmen added in," Morrison continued. No matter where the Sacred Heart top-three ends up in the NEC mix, however, the big question is who will fill-out the rest of the top-seven for the Pioneers?

Morrison, who has two NEC Women's Cross Country Coach-of-the-Year honors under his belt (2003 and 2005), turns to his usual large roster of 30 women for the answer. "Depth is never a problem for us, and as usual, we have quite a few athletes vying for a varsity spot," Morrison said.

Starting with senior quad-captains Julia Mahoney (Topsfield, MA), and Kathryn O'Connor (Bellmore, NY), Morrison believes as many as 14 athletes have a chance to fill out the rest of Sacred Heart's top-seven. Mahoney and O'Connor, who have appeared regularly in Sacred Heart's top-10 over the past three years, could be a big part of the answer for the women. "With another year of development behind them, and a summer of dedicated training, these two look ready to make their presence felt," Morrison stated. Then there is sophomore Brooke Palmer (Portland, OR), who ran in Sacred Heart's top-seven for much of the 2005 campaign, and who is the top returnee for the Pioneers outside of the Duffy twins, and Henry. Morrison noted that Palmer has looked great during preseason, and that he expects her to follow her solid rookie performance, with an even better sophomore season.

One major addition to the mix is top recruit Sarah Tencza (Succasunna, NJ), who is the freshman most likely to contend for a top-five spot. Tencza has tremendous range, evidenced by her personal bests of 59 seconds for 400-meters, 2:17 for 800-meters, and 19:52 on the very difficult Holmdel Park 5000-meter cross country course, where New Jersey conducts all of its high school cross country championships. What Morrison especially likes about Tencza is her experience in big races. Tencza helped lead her Roxbury High School cross country team to two consecutive New Jersey Meet of Champions team titles in 2004 and 2005. Her Roxbury cross country team was also invited to compete in the Nike Team Nationals in Portland, Oregon in 2005, where it placed ninth in the nation. On the track, Tencza ran legs on Roxbury's third place distance medley and second place 4x800 relay teams in the National Scholastic Indoor Championships in 2006. Outdoors, her distance medley relay team went on to finish second in the Penn Relays as well. Morrison figures Tencza's experience will help her to adjust quickly to running at the intercollegiate level.

One athlete with no experience who appears ready to make a play for a varsity spot is sophomore transfer Mary Coakley (Plattsburgh, NY). Coakley played basketball at Division III Elmira College last year, and has only run recreationally up until now. She transferred to Sacred Heart for it's physical therapy program, but also contacted Morrison about giving cross country a try. Morrison is hoping that his open-door policy for walk-on athletes pays big dividends in Coakley's case. "She's been running in our top seven or eight in workouts since day one," Morrison said. "She's a good athlete, with tons of potential, so it will be interesting to see how she does this season."

Morrison noted nine other athletes who have a chance to snare a varsity spot for the Pioneer women including graduate students Kelly Reagan (New Milford, CT), and Katelyn Botsford (Cresskill, NJ), senior Stephanie Oberheim (Woodhaven, NY), junior Amanda McLaughlin (Stony Point, NY), sophomore Caitlin Manchester (Meriden, CT), and freshmen Devon Butler (New London, CT), Theresa Campbell (Colonia, NJ), Katie Kobylarz (Newington, CT), and Cristina Soares (Naugatuck, CT).

On the men's side of the ledger, the Pioneers head into the fall campaign with a renewed sense of purpose, and an optimistic outlook. One reason for the optimism is the team's youth. With only one senior and two juniors on the squad, the team is made up almost entirely of freshmen and sophomores. "I've had a couple of pretty good recruiting years, so we all feel like we can bring the program to new heights this year," stated Morrison.

The men are coming off a sub-par ninth place showing in the 2005 NEC Championship, but Morrison feels they can improve significantly on that. "We were very reliant on freshmen last year," Morrison said, "but they're sophomores now, with a year of experience and development behind them. That can make all the difference in the world." That sophomore group, which made regular appearances in the Sacred Heart top-5 last year, includes Luis German (Southampton, NY), co-captain David Jones (Charlton, NY), Joseph Palma (Gladstone, NJ), and John Kenworthy (Gloversville, NY).

German comes off a freshman season that saw him run second on the team most of the time to the now graduated Tyler Arnett, who ran the fourth fastest cross country time in school history during his career. In Morrison's estimation, German struggled with the five-mile distance last fall, but "that's normal for a miler, and Luis is a miler. A lot of guys coming out of high school struggle with this distance at first, but handle it just fine after a year." Despite his struggles, German recorded a very respectable personal best of 27:32.1 last fall, making him the fourth fastest freshman in school history over the five-mile distance.

German went on to record some fine results on the track in 2006, including a fifth place finish in the 1000-meters (2:28.91) in the indoor New England Championships. That performance earned German "All-New England" status. He followed-up that race with a 15th place showing in the 1000-meters (2:28.79) in the prestigious IC4A Championships. He was one of only three freshmen to even compete in the event. Outdoors, German placed 5th in the NEC Championship 1500-meters with a 4:00.79 clocking. With a year of intercollegiate distance running behind him, Morrison expects German to "really break through this year. Luis has the talent to be an All-NEC performer in cross country," Morrison opined. "That's evident from his track times."

Morrison thinks that Jones, an unheralded runner coming out of high school, can push German for the top spot on the team throughout the season. "I've never had a sophomore run as many miles in the summer as Dave did this year," Morrison stated. "Dave has been up front with Luis throughout the preseason," Morrison continued, "and I think he's going to surprise some people." Palma, who was a 4:25 miler in high school, also "trained really well" this summer, according to Morrison, and should be very close to German and Jones. Kenworthy is the fourth sophomore who should benefit from a year of experience and development. "John is another guy, like Dave, whose high school credentials don't really jump off the page at you," Morrison said, "but this guy is going to be good. This sophomore group, on the whole, is just very committed to their running."

Another factor that should help the Pioneer men improve their station in 2006 is the development of team depth. "In the past few years our lack of depth has cost us, but this year, we should have at least 12 guys battling for a spot in our top-seven," Morrison said. This group includes the team's lone senior, co-captain Robert McDermott, who also ran in the team's top-five at times last year. McDermott has been "providing great leadership to the team thus far," Morrison stated, "and I think he's going to run faster than ever."

The team's two juniors should also have a say in what happens this season. Stephen Zito (Guilford, CT) is the only returnee on the team who ran in the top-five in every single race last year. "Zito put in a very impressive summer of training," according to Morrison, who expects him to mix into the sophomore group with regularity. Zito's classmate Robert Boerjes (Patchogue, NY), with a 1:55.77 800 meters in 2006 to his credit, has always been more of a middle distance runner, but Morrison thinks he can translate his track success to the cross country course this season.

In addition to the returning athletes, the Pioneer stable of harriers is stocked with five freshmen Morrison thinks have a chance to contribute on the varsity level right away. Matthew Chorney (Bristol, NH), who placed fourth in the Class M&S New Hampshire State Meet last fall, has been fronting the group throughout the preseason, with Brendan Rickert (Danbury, CT), and Ryan Murdoch (Niantic, CT) close on his heels. "What excites me about these three," Morrison mused, "is that they appear to be made for the longer distances. I think all three will handle the five mile distance real well from the get go." Two other freshmen, Michael Shields (Rockaway Beach, NY), and Matthew Miller (Blauvelt, NY), could also contend for a varsity position, depending on how they adjust to the longer race distance.

"The ultimate goal for our men's cross country program is to contend for NEC Championships on a yearly basis, just as our women have for some time now," Morrison concluded, "but with this young group we're looking to get part of the way there in 2006." Morrison thinks a fifth place finish in the NEC, matching the program's best finish from 2003, would be a good starting point. "There are three teams at the top of the conference right now, but after that things are wide open," Morrison stated. "The question we're asking ourselves is `Why not us?' We plan to move-up four to five spots in the conference this year, and then in 2007, when this group is older, contend for the NEC Championship."

Both the men and women's teams open up their seasons on Saturday, September 9th, with the Connecticut College Invitational. It will serve as a homecoming of sorts for Morrison, who grew up in Waterford, CT, where the meet will be conducted on the grounds of Harkness Memorial State Park. The men's race goes off at 11:00 AM, with the women following at Noon.

Directions to Harkness Memorial State Park