Women's Cross Country: Knights Earn 1st Regional Title Since 2012

Hagerstown, Md. -- On Saturday, the Knights women's cross country team earned its first NJCAA Region XX Division I Championship since 2012 at the Region XX/Maryland Juco Athletic Conference Championship meet hosted by Hagerstown Community College. Essex finished runners up for the conference title, missing by just four points.

"This is a major accomplishment considering three different student athletes were dealing with various injuries within a week of the meet," said head cross country coach Noah Hutton. "The ladies raced hard against Anne Arundel Community College just barely losing out on the conference championship."

This season was a unique combination of extreme talent, potential and student athletes new to the sport.

Gabrielle Turner (Forest Park) and Karson Marcellino (Eastern Tech) led the way at the regional/conference meet and laid the foundation for a potential nationally competitive women's team next year.

Turner ran with the top three women all race and out kicked the No. 3 finisher in the last 100m to finish as Region XX and Maryland Juco runner up. Marcellino peaked at the right point in the season and finished the meet in fourth place.

Both earned All-Region XX and All-Maryland Juco honors.

Over the course of the year, Turner led the Knights at every meet and broke the school record for the 5k at the Bud Smitley Invitational at PSU Harrisburg (Oct. 5).

"She races with guts and is always within the top 10-20 miles for the first mile," Hutton said.

Marcellino was the second place finisher every meet for the Knights and technically ran her fastest 5k at the championship meet, but ran her first 5k of the 6k at Hood invitational (Oct. 19) faster, with a time of 22:09.0.

Both ladies are now top 10 in school history for the 5k and top five in school history for the 6k.

Turner and Marcellino will look to run personal bests at the NJCAA Division I Women's Cross Country Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on November 9. 

Amber Pearce (Dundalk) ran extremely well at regionals considering she recently rolled an ankle. Genevieve LaFon (Loch Raven) also pushed through an injury that has been lingering since the beginning of the year and ran the only personal best on the women's side.

Marisa Hernandez (Eastern Tech) and Alisa Lawton (Dundalk) also raced hard for the Knights.