Depth, Experience To Benefit Women's Cross Country's Quest For MASCAC Crown This Season

A veteran Massachusetts Maritime women's cross country squad is looking to run away with success in 2009, as Head Coach Linda Letourneau welcomes back five letterwinners, including four seniors and juniors, that will lead the charge towards the Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference.

Letourneau has tabbed seniors Lauren Fograshy (Monson, Mass./Monson), Kaitlin O'Donnell (Damascus, Md./Academy of the Holy Cross) and Emily Rizzo (Milwaukee, Wis./St. Joan Antida) as the Bucs' tri-captains for the season, and she describes this trio as "individuals who provide great drive and work ethic that will truly lead by example."

Fograshy was the top performer for Massachusetts Maritime in all but one race during the 2008 campaign, and she will team will O'Donnell (who serves on the national NCAA Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee), Rizzo, junior Meredith Hall (Duxbury, Mass./Duxbury) and sophomore Emily Burbank (Yarmouthport, Mass./Dennis-Yarmouth) to provide a veteran presence in 2009.  Letourneau will look to blend six newcomers to the Buccaneer program into the mix as well this fall, as junior Kathleen Micheli (North Attleboro, Mass./North Attleboro) and freshmen Sophie Enman (Marblehead, Mass./Marblehead), Gretchen Kramer (Stafford, Va./Colonial Forge), Kaitlin Scannell (Gilford, N.H./Gilford), Devon Smith (Hull, Mass./Hull) and Anna Whitemore (Weatogue, Conn./Simsbury) will look to make an impact.

Letourneau's squad begins the 2009 season on Saturday, September 12^th by hosting the Fifth Annual Lt. Travis J. Fuller Invitational on campus, and the Buccaneers will be vying for the MASCAC Championship on Saturday, October 24^th at Westfield State's Stanley Park.