Players Mentioned
WXC Kicks-Off Fall Slate at Monmouth Saturday
8/29/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
Coming off one of a season in which the squad recorded four top-five team finishes, the Seton Hall women's cross country team is set to open its 2014 campaign at the 4K Monmouth XC Kick-Off on Saturday.
The Pirates finished as the runner-up at the event last fall, marking the second consecutive year the squad collected a second-place finish in the opener. On Saturday, veteran head coach John Moon will look to a combination of familiar faces and fresh legs to help his team get out to another fast start.
Senior Mary Migton (Ledgewood, N.J.) enters the final year of what has been a decorated career after recording a medal-winning performance at the ECAC Championships in the 2013 fall finale.
Migton was one of three Pirates to score in all nine meets a season ago, a group that also included fellow captain Desyre Blackburn (Aloha, Ore.). As a freshman, Blackburn finished third on the squad in every fall appearance, placing behind only Migton and Nyala Eddings each time.
"Mary is an outstanding athlete and teammate," said Moon. "She is the nucleus for our squad and has helped set a tone within the program that reflects what we want to accomplish. With her and Desyre, we have two runners who have been consistent performers for us and want to help push the team to a new level."
Migton and Blackburn will be joined by juniors Amanda Catherall (Farmingdale, N.Y.) and Bri Miller (Bayonne, N.J.) in sharing captain duties this season.
Catherall emerged as a key contributor for the squad last season, greatly elevating her individual level of performance and recording the first three scoring times of her career. In her first full season of competition for the Pirates, Miller finished tied for fourth on the squad with four scoring efforts, narrowly missing a fifth with a 28th overall finish at last year's Monmouth meet.
"Our captains set a great example for our team," said Moon. "Their work ethic inspires everybody to strive to get better. I think we will see the results of their impact show not only in their own times, but our finishes as a team overall."
Fellow junior Amanda Quaglia (Reading, Pa.) followed up a stellar freshman campaign with four more top-five team finishes last season and will once again be among the team's top performers.
Following the graduation of Eddings and Kristen May, The Hall will lean on an experienced core of seven other returnees to assume larger roles.
Junior Alex Ryan (Aurora, Colo.) placed fifth for the Pirates during last season's trip to the Monmouth meet and completed the fall as one of 11 different runners to score for the women's team.
Classmate Samantha Young (Upper Black Eddy, Pa.) also added a top-five team finish at the Leopard Invitational while sophomore Tiffany Callanan (Toms River, N.J.) twice came across the line just outside the scoring group and represented The Hall at the BIG EAST Championships in her debut season.
"We're bringing back a great group that has worked extremely hard to get our program where it is," Moon said. "When you add in the five newcomers that we have, I think we are in a position to consistently challenge the teams ahead of us."
A pair of local standouts in Emily Johnson (Wildwood Crest, N.J.) and Christiana Rutkowski (Middletown, N.J.) is included in the talented group that Seton Hall will welcome in 2014. Also joining the squad will be Massachusetts products Emily Curran (Wakefield, Mass.) and Allegra Egizi (Beverly, Mass.) as well as Bailey Seach (Winston Salem, N.C.) who boasts a state championship pedigree after helping Bishop McGuinness Catholic to a pair of titles in her career.
"The thing about the group we brought in is that they can run together," Moon said. "Collectively, they have already been pushing others in training and they will help us close the gap between our finishers on race day.
The Pirates do not have to wait too much longer to toe the line as Saturday's meet will be held at Thompson Park in Lincroft, N.J. and is scheduled to start at 9:35 a.m. For updates on the women's cross country team, follow @SHUPiratesXC and check back on SHUPirates.com.
