By Jim Fenton
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Bridgewater State University junior Naomi Cass (Westport, Mass.) is once again the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Women's Cross Country Runner of the Year.
Cass earned that honor last Saturday by winning her second straight MASCAC Championship race in Leominster at the Doyle Conservation Center.
She finished the 5-kilometer course in 18:31.89, 25 seconds faster than the second-place finisher, as BSU wound up in second to Westfield State University in the team standings.
Cass is the first MASCAC women's runner to repeat since Jess Cardin of Westfield State won four in a row from 2014-17.
She is the first Bears' runner to accomplish the feat since BSU Athletics Hall of Famer Molly Rouillard won three consecutive titles from 2010-12.
The top ten runners at the MASCAC Championship meet earn All-MASCAC honors while the meet champion is the conference runner of the year.
Joining Cass on the All-MASCAC team is BSU senior Lily Valcovic (East Taunton, Mass.).
Cass placed 26th at the MASCAC race as a freshman in 2022 before becoming a champion a year ago with a time of 19:10.88 at Fort Devens.
This season, Cass has been the MASCAC runner of the week four times and has earned the honor nine times over the past two seasons.
Cass began this season by winning the Wheaton/Babson Season Opener and was the top Division 3 runner (and 19th out of 345) at the UMass Dartmouth Invitational.
She was six out of 240 runners at the Keene State Invitational and 69th out of 277 at the Connecticut College Invitational.
Cass qualified for the NCAA Championships last season, placing 145th out of 293 runners in Pennsylvania.
Valcovic was ninth at the MASCACs with a time of 19:42.34 to earn all-conference honors for a second year in a row.
Valcovic was fifth in 2023 with a time of 20:14.94.
The Bears will take part in the NCAA Division 3 East Region Championships on Nov. 16 in Contoocock, N.H.
Westfield State's Sophia Rebenciuc was named the Rookie of the Year and made the All-MASCAC team after finishing sixth.
The other seven on the all-conference team are from Westfield State -- Tealei Chandonnet, Shea Hamel, Julianne Kelly, Molly Kennedy, Brynne Lecours, Eliza Lee and Reese Stevens.
Westfield State's Marlee Berg, whose team has won five straight MASCAC titles, was picked as the Coach of the Year.