BEVERLY, Mass. — After a competitive championship in 2024, the Suffolk Rams look to defend their title as the 2025 Women’s Cross Country season gets underway in the Conference of New England. The championship this year will be held at Gordon College on Saturday, November 1.
Curry College
The Colonels enter the season under new leadership in the form of Sarah Gallo. Most recently she was the head cross country and track and field coach at Grafton High School, and has spent over 20 years in sport training. She will look to build the team up, bringing in three new runners to join the team. They will join returners Mackenzie Husson and Zoe Desmarais, as the Colonels begin their season at the James Sheehan Invite on Saturday.
Additions: Sarah Gallo (Head Coach), Jayda Davis, Anna Crossman, Laraeler Russow
Graduates: None
Endicott College
Endicott will look to build upon last season’s fifth place CNE Championship finish behind a young squad in 2025.
Junior captains Teagan Shaughnessy (Watertown, Mass.) and Alexa Suchy (Guilford, Conn.) will lead the squad for the first time in their careers. Senior Hannah Shepard (Keene, N.H.) and graduate student Allie DeVoe (Ridgefield, Conn.) also will be counted upon to guide the program.
Endicott opens up its 2025 season on Saturday, August 30, in the “Battle of the North Shore” at Gordon College.
Additions: 2
Graduates: 5
Gordon College
Gordon is led by fourth-year head coach Mickey Miela. The Fighting Scots claimed fourth at last year’s CNE Championships. Gordon opened the 2025 season at the Battle of the North Shore meet where rookie Abigail Roark captured top individual honors.
Additions: 6
Graduates: 3
Nichols College
The Bison, under third-year head coach Makayla Norton, will have just one representative for the upcoming fall campaign, which is none other than freshman newcomer Bobbi Calder. Calder will make her collegiate debut as an individual entry at the University of Hartford Cross Country Invitational at Keney Park.
Additions: Bobbi Calder
Graduates: None
Roger Williams University
The Roger Williams University women’s cross country team begins its 2025 season at the Trinity Invitational. The Hawks are coming off their best finish since 2019, placing second at the CNE Championships. Katie Flaherty (West Hartford, Conn.) returns after earning All-Conference honors with a 14th-place finish, alongside key contributors Olivia O’Neill (Westwood, Mass.) and Natalie Forno (Middletown, Conn.). RWU also achieved a program-best 13th-place finish at the Mideast Regional, showing significant progress last season. With nine returners, the Hawks are aiming to build on that success in 2025.
Suffolk University
CNE Finish: 1st of 8 | NCAA DIII East Regionals Finish: 5th of 30
Returners: 13 | Graduated: 4 | Newcomers: 11
Suffolk women’s cross country and conference champion have been synonymous for the last four seasons and Will Feldman’s squad has every intention to keep it that way in 2025.
Despite the loss of four runners to graduation, the team brings back a bakers’ dozen from the team that took fifth at NCAA Division III East Regionals, the team’s best finish at regionals in program history. In that group is all-region runners Sofia Moukaddem and Amy Pattelena, who will lead the team as tri-captains alongside Shannon Groom.
To add depth on the course, ninth-year head coach Feldman assembled an 11-runner recruiting class mixed between experienced transfers and seven true freshmen.
Suffolk’s sights are set on its 2025 debut, the Suffolk Short Course Classic, Saturday, Aug. 30 at Highland Park in Attleboro, Massachusetts.
JWU (Providence)
The Wildcats were poised to capture their first GNAC Championship in just their second season as a varsity program before injuries derailed their season and left them with a third-place finish. Key returners include sophomore Caroline Carter, who was the top finisher for head coach Ben Finnigan in all five meets she competed in last fall. Seniors Avery Goshert and Allison Borduin return for their third year of competition, as do Molly McCarthy and Yvette Lauzon.
Additions: 5
Departures: 3
University of Hartford
The Hartford Women’s Cross Country team looks to build off last year’s season going into 2025. The Hawks 2024 season did not turn out the way they wanted, with only one top five finish in the season. However, with a group of returners more focused and experienced, as well as newcomers who look to provide value, Hartford is excited for the 2025 season. Amongst these returners is senior Elizabeth White (Nashua, N.H.) who finished last year with CNE All-Academic honors, and looks to be a leader for the squad. Additionally junior Annie Gilman (Lowell, Mass.) looks to provide support as both a leader and performer, coming off a season in which she would see a top-10 finish in the 6k at the ECAC Championship. Coming into her second season is sophomore Ella Stephenson, who was awarded CNE Runner of the Week on September 9th a season ago. The Hawks will be led by head coach Connor Green in his third season at the helm. He will also be assisted by distance coach Everett Hackett, who comes back for his third season as well. Hartford will compete in six regular season meets, as well as competing to return to the ECAC Championship, as well as compete for an NCAA tournament bid. The Hawks will kick things off at home as they host the second annual Hartford Hawks invitational on September 6th.
Additions: Hannah La Croix, Peyton Matessino, Madeline Polochick, Sophia Rebenciuc, Maya Siegelman, Leah Valentino
Graduates: Ladelle Hazen, Jacqueline Lage
Wentworth
Additions: Izzy Robbins, Anabelle Mendez
Graduates: Erin MacLean, Megan Leger
Under the direction of third-year head coach Emily Gustavson, the Wentworth women’s cross country team looks to make an improvement within the CNE. A pair of returning student-athletes in Emma Schaumloffel and Summer Daniels are poised to lead the Leopards. Schaumloffel had a strong rookie campaign that saw her cross the line first for the Black & Gold three times. Daniels was Wentworth’s first runner to cross the line in the other three meets, including posting a 48th-place finish last season at the CNE Championship. Anabelle Mendez was a strong mid-distance runner for the Leopards in track last season and is expecting to have strong performances during her rookie cross country season.
Western New England University
With the season looming just around the corner this weekend, the Western New England women’s cross country team will return nearly its full roster from the 2024 season, looking to race to a conference title this season. Following hosting the 2024 Conference of New England Championships, the women’s cross country team saw eight of its own reach the NCAA Division III Mideast Regional event and will look to do the same in 2025.
The Golden Bears return key members to their team, including upperclassmen Alyssa Clemence (Dudley, Mass.), Nina Garofalo (Berlin, Conn.), and Olivia Kay (South Kingstown, R.I.). With their senior leadership this season, Western New England women’s cross country will look to make a run to write their own history, beginning the season on Saturday, September 6, at the Silloway Vermont State Maple Syrup Challenge at Vermont State University Randolph at 11:00 AM.
Additions: Ava Blumer
Graduates: None
ABOUT THE CONFERENCE OF NEW ENGLAND
Originally founded in 1984 as the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC), and reconstituted as the Conference of New England (CNE) in 2024, the CNE is an NCAA Division III athletic conference composed of 11 full member and five associate member institutions throughout the New England region. Its membership aims to provide student-athletes with a positive experience in their pursuit of excellence through high academic standards, quality competition and a meaningful student life. The Conference administers championships in 21 intercollegiate sports.