Gunther headlines Seahawks with All-CCC accolades
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) announced its first-ever Women's Track and Field major award winners on Wednesday afternoon. This is the first year major awards have been given out in the sport as it was elevated to championship status in 2018.
The conference also recognized its All-Conference Teams. The All-Conference Teams consisted of the medal winners in each of the 19 events at the CCC Championship. Gold medalists were named First Team All-CCC members with silver and bronze medalists named to the Second and Third Teams, respectively. Forty-three individuals in total were recognized.
Roger Williams dominated the major award voting as Hawks took home at least a share of each of the student-athlete awards. Sophomore Sarah Mawdsley (Sandy Hook, Conn.) was named the Runner of the Year, while junior Savannah Fox Tree-McGrath (Billerica, Mass.) was voted the Field Performer of the Year. The CCC Champions also won both rookie awards with Madison Fancher (Gloversville, N.Y.) winning the Rookie Runner of the Year and Kristen Norray (Berne, N.Y.) earning the Rookie Field Performer of the Year. Senior Makayla D'Urso (Londonderry, N.H.) was this year's Senior Scholar-Athlete. The only student-athlete not from Roger Williams to win an award was Salve Regina's Erin Gunther (Sayville, N.Y.) who earned a share of the Field Performer of the Year award. RWU head coach Sean Livingston was selected as the CCC Coach of the Year and Endicott won the Team Sportsmanship award.
Voting was conducted by the six CCC women's track and field head coaches in the week following the CCC Championship.
There were 21 student-athletes who earned multiple spots on this year's All-Conference Teams with 13 of them having their highest honors as First Teamers. Mawdsley, Fox Tree-McGrath, Fancher, D'Urso, and Gunther were included in that group. Mawdsley was an All-CCC First Teamer in two events winning both the 3K and the 5K. Her teammates, Fox Tree-McGrath and D'Urso, were also double-gold All-CCC team members. Fox Tree-McGrath won both the javelin and the high jump, while D'Urso led the way in the 800 and 1500. D'Urso was also part of the All-CCC Second Team 4x400 relay. Fancher was an All-CCC First Team member in the 100-meter hurdles and took the Second Team spots in the 400-meter hurdles and high jump. She was also part of the All-CCC Second Team 4x400. Gunther was an All-CCC First Teamer as part of the Salve Regina 4x100 relay and as the CCC triple jump champion. She earned a Third Team honor in the long jump.
The rest of Salve Regina's All-CCC First Team 4x100 included Natalie Kopiec (Manchester, Conn.), who was also part of the All-CCC First Team as the winner of the 400-meter hurdles and a Second Teamer in the 100-meter hurdles, and Madison Stanley (Warwick, R.I.), who was a double-gold honoree because of her inclusion on the Salve Regina gold-medal winning 4x400. Stanley was also an All-CCC Second Teamer in the 200 and a Third Teamer in the triple jump. Molly Powers (Mahwah, N.J.), who was an All-CCC Third Team member in the 400, and Maggie McCarthy (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) were the other two members of 4x400 relay team.
Eastern Nazarene's Isis McFadden (Telford, Pa.) was a double-gold All-CCC First Team member after winning the 100- and 200-meter dash. She also took a Second Team spot in the long jump. Devin Smith (Ipswich, Mass.) was the last double-gold All-CCC honoree being recognized as part of both the Salve Regina 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams. She also was the All-CCC Third Team member in the high jump.
Julia Jankowski (Methuen, Mass.) was the All-CCC First Teamer in the 400, while also being recognized as an All-CCC Third Teamer in both the 200 and 4x400. The last two All-CCC First Team honorees who earned multiple accolades was Gordon's Maddie St. Julien (Wareham, Mass.) and Salve Regina's Katherine Simoniello (Killingworth, Conn.). St. Julien was on the All-CCC First Team after winning the high jump, but also earned spots on the Second Team in the 100, triple jump, and 4x100 relay. Simoniello won the discus to earn a First Team spot and finished second in the shot put to claim a Second Team spot as well.
The remaining members of the All-CCC First Team were Joanna Joseph (Brockton, Mass.) from ENC in the shot put, Amanda Page (Manchester, Conn.) from Gordon in the pole vault, and Kaitlyn Anthes (Cumberland, R.I.) from Nichols in the hammer throw.
There were five student-athletes with multiple honors whose highest honor was on the All-CCC Second Team. One of them was Norray from Roger Williams who took second in the discus and third in the hammer. Gordon's Shineika Fareus (New London, Conn.) was an All-CCC Second Team member in the 800 and the 4x100 relay. Mikaela Fleenor (Durham, Maine) and Rachael Farah (Syosset, N.Y.) were the other All-CCC Second Team members of that relay joining Fareus and St. Julien.
Endicott's Oliva Folkes (Amston, Conn.) also earned All-Conference spots individually and as part of a relay team. She was an All-CCC Second Team member in the 400 and part of the Gulls' Third Team 4x100. The situation was reversed for Siobhan Mitchell (West Newbury, Mass.) was a Second Teamer as part of the Hawks' 4x400 relay, but a Third Teamer individually in the 800. The fourth member of that 4x400 was Morgan Harrington (South Hadley, Mass.)
The final multi-All-CCC honoree on the Second Team was Gordon's Angie Epplett (Uxbridge, Mass.) who was on the Second Team in the 3000 and the Third Team in the 1500.
Endicott's Kiera Malone (Woburn, Mass.) was the All-CCC Second Teamer in the 5K with Gordon's Louisa Dodds (Hillsdale, N.Y.) earning Second Team recognition in the 1500.
In the field events Roger Williams' Maddy Malieswski (Framingham, Mass.) was the All-CCC Second Team honoree in the pole vault and Salve Regina's Athena Silva (West Warwick, R.I.) and Jillian LeBeau (Bristol, Conn.) earned Second Team spots in the hammer and javelin, respectively.
There were 13 remaining student-athletes whose highest All-Conference honor was on the Third Team. Three of them had multiple Third Team honors. They were Roger Williams' Ava Ricciardi (Holden, Mass.), Lauren Stone (Longmeadow, Mass.), and Tory Stoddard (Charlton, Mass.). All three were honored both individually and as part of a relay team. Stone and Ricciardi were both members of the Roger Williams 4x100 team, while Stoddard ran in the 4x400. Individually, Ricciardi earned the Third Team spot in the 100, Stone finished third in the 100-meter hurdles, and Stoddard landed the bronze in the 400-meter hurdles. Stoddard was also an All-CCC Third Teamer in the pole vault, tying with teammate Meghan Franz and Salve Regina's Ashley Polson (Middletown, Conn.).
Gordon's Kayla Kroning (Ringwood, N.J.) earned an All-CCC Third Team spot in the 3K and Salve Regina's Alex Demeo (Burlington, Conn.) was honored in the 5K.
Katie Romanovicz (Plymouth, Mass.) from Roger Williams earned her only All-Conference spot as part of the RWU 4x100, while Amelia Castelli (Scituate, Mass.) and Amanda Recupero (Ipswich, Mass.) did the same as part of Endicott's 4x400.
The final three All-CCC Third Teamers were all field competitors. Roger Williams' Theresa Cerullo (Millis, Mass.) was the honoree in the discus and Olivia Conway (Jefferson, N.H.) and Elicia Nemirow (Warwick, R.I.), both from Salve Regina, earned spots in the shot put and javelin, respectively.
FIELD PERFORMER OF THE YEAR
Erin Gunther, Salve Regina
Gunther won two medals at the CCC Championship for Salve Regina as the Seahawks were the runner-up at the CCC Championship. She took the gold medal in the triple jump with a distance of 11.20 meters, which set both Salve Regina and meet records. She also placed third in the long jump to take the bronze medal in that category. She competed in the triple jump at the New England Championship and finished 17th.
"Erin has had a fantastic year," says head coach Matt Hird. "Not only has she been a leader on the horizontal jumps team, but has also scored in the 100m and 400m hurdle events in the conference championship and led off the winning 4x100m relay team. Erin won the triple jump in a personal best 11.20 meters (36'0") which broke both the school and meet records. She preceded that effort with a third in the long jump with a 4.88 meter leap (16'0"). In addition to her athletic ability, Erin is valued by her teammates and coaches by her constant cheerfulness, willing to assist the team in any way she can, and be a positive influence on everyone. Her willingness to attempt the hurdle races in the conference meet after never having raced the short hurdles in life, and the 400m hurdles only once, and producing scoring efforts in both is truly an inspiration to her teammates and coaches."