Williams' Cretti, Holtschulte Earn Most Outstanding Performer For Second-Straight Year

HADLEY, Mass. - The New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) announced today the 2005 edition of the Cross Country All-Conference teams. Williams seniors Neil Holtschulte (Marysville, Ohio) and Caroline Cretti (Carbondale, Colo.) both came away with Most Outstanding Performer honors for the second-straight season, after earning medalist honors at the 2005 NESCAC Cross Country Championships held at Wesleyan on October 29, 2005.

It was the third year in a row that Holtschulte was recognized as the Most Outstanding Performer of the Year on the men’s side, receiving the award for the first time in 2003 and then again in 2004. Holtschulte finished the 2005 championship with a time of 25:09.2 - shattering the Long Lane Farms course record by almost 40 seconds.

The 2005 NESCAC Men’s Cross Country All-Conference First Team, selected based on individual finish at the championship, consisted of six runners from the 2004 First Team and one newcomer. Members from last season’s First Team to earn the honor again this season were Tufts’ junior Josh Kennedy and senior Matt Lacey, Wesleyan’s graduate student Wes Fuhrman and senior Owen Kiely, and Williams’ Holtschulte and junior Stephen Wills. The newcomer to the group is senior Dan Johnson from Bates, a Second Team selection last year. Holtschulte and Kennedy also received First Team recognition in 2003.

The Men’s Rookie of the Year award went to Hunter Norte (Ellington, Conn.) of Trinity, as he finished ninth at the championship - the highest finish among first-year runners - and earned All-Conference Second Team honors. Men’s Coach of the Year was shared among two individuals for the second year in a row, as Tufts’ Ethan Barron and Wesleyan’s John Crooke were the choice among the coaches for the award. It is the first time that the first-year Barron or Crooke, now in his sixth season with Wesleyan, have earned the award.

On the women’s side, Cretti also collected her third Most Outstanding Performer award, after receiving the accolade in her rookie campaign of 2002 and again last season. Her first-place finish at the 2005 championship guaranteed her a spot on the Women’s Cross Country All-Conference First team for the fourth year in a row.

Joining Cretti as the only other holdover from the 2004 First Team was Amherst junior Shauneen Garrahan, who also received First Team recognition in 2003. The remainder of the First Team was comprised of Colby’s senior Jessica Minty and junior Karen Prisby, Wesleyan junior Ellen Davis, a Second Team selection last season, and Williams sophomores Liz Gleason and Mallory Harlin.

The Women’s Rookie of the Year award went to Amherst’s Nicole Anderson (Kailua, Hawaii), as she finished eighth at the championship, the highest among rookies, and earned All-Conference Second Team honors. Williams head coach Peter Farwell was named the Women’s Coach of the Year, after guiding the Ephs to their 10th Women’s Cross Country crown. Farwell has served as head coach for the Williams Women since the 2000 season, after beginning his tenure as the Men’s head coach in 1979, a position he still holds. Farwell last received Women’s Coach of the Year honors in 2002.