Three Spartans earn First Team All-Conference

2017 Jan 25

The Castleton University women's cross country program was well-represented by the North Atlantic Conference this afternoon, with three Spartans earning All-Conference honors, highlighted by freshman Kaylyn Crompton claiming two major awards. Following a season that has featured five top fives and three first place finishes, Crompton has claimed the highly-coveted NAC Rookie and Runner of the Year awards. Elizabeth Bassette and Molly O'Callaghan join Crompton as First Team All-Conference members following top marks throughout the season. Crompton made her presence known right away, opening the season with back-to-back first place finishes in the Southern Vermont Invitational and Castleton Invitational. The freshman picked up second place and fourth place finishes in the Vermont State Meet and Western New England Invitational, respectively, which was preceded by an impressive 11th place finish in the five-kilometer UMass-Dartmouth Invitational that featured 275 runners from the top division I, II, and III competitors in the region. Crompton continued her strong season when she took first place in the NAC Championship at Johnson State, featuring the league's best in the 86-runner, 5K event. Crompton finished the race with a time of 21:02, which was 12 seconds faster than the second place runner. Bassette and O'Callaghan joined Crompton in the top ten with fourth place and sixth place finishes in the conference championship, respectively. Bassette has recorded two top fives on the season with her best finish coming in the most recent NAC Championship. She also recorded a pair of top tens in the opening two meets of the season, taking fifth and eighth in the Southern Vermont and Castleton meets, respectively. The junior was also named to the 2016 NAC Sportmanship Team, demonstrating sportsmanship and ethical behavior both on and off the course this year for Castleton. O'Callaghan, also coming off her best finish of the year with a sixth place finish in the NAC Championship, has recorded three top tens overall this season with seventh place and tenth place tallies in the opening two meets of the season. The top three finishers all year for Castleton have led the Spartans to five top tens in just six weeks of action this season, including a second place finish in the NAC Championship, which was its highest rank in the conference championship since 2009.