ERIE, Pa. – The Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) women's cross country All-Conference teams were announced on Thursday afternoon. Penn State Behrend had eight women runners earn All-Conference honors.
Head coach Greg Cooper was named the AMCC Coach of the Year for the third straight year and sixth of his career. Cooper guided the Lions to back-to-back conference titles, including four in the past five years.
Freshman Savanna Carr (Franklin, PA/Franklin Area) was voted the 2017 AMCC Women's Cross Country Runner of the Year. Carr led the charge for the Lions with a first-place finish at the AMCC Championship, helping Behrend win the meet with a perfect score of 15. Her final time of 23:23 was good enough to earn her the second-fastest time in AMCC Championship history. Carr also recorded the fastest 5k and 6k times in the AMCC during the regular season. She earned a first place finish at the Behrend Invitational 5k in 19:35 and then cruised to a 22:30 finish at the Oberlin Inter-Regional Rumble 6k a month later.
Freshman Kelley Giles (North Huntington, PA/Norwin) earned AMCC Newcomer of the Year after finishing 11th overall at the AMCC Championship meet, crossing the finish line as the second fastest freshman with a time of 25:47. Giles also held the 10th fastest 5k time in the conference during the regular season, as she recorded a 21:18 finish at the Behrend Invitational.
Following Carr was last year's AMCC Runner of the Year, Riley Crissman (Bradford, PA/Bradford Area), Courtney Sargent (Erie, PA/Collegiate Academy), Jenna Shelton (Cabot, PA/Knoch), and Becca Worley (Townville, PA/Maplewood) to close out the top five runners at the AMCC Championship meet. This is Sargent's third All-Conference honor and Crissman, Shelton, and Worley's second.
Senior Rachel Pell (Elizabeth, PA/Elizabeth Forward) and sophomore Caitlin Plazony (Fairview, PA/Fairview) each earned an All-Conference nod for the second time.
The women's cross country team will return to action on November 11 when they compete at the NCAA Regionals.
