Providene Ladies finish 3rd in NCAA Cross-Country as Four Irish Ladies Make the Team

by Perri Williams

At the NCAA National Cross Country held today in Madison, Wisconsin, Providence College finished third team in the ladies 6,000m race. Included on the team were four Irish girls; Laura Mooney (Tullamore Harriers), Niamh O’Mahoney (An Riocht), Anna Gardiner (East Down) and Cara Laverty (Finn Valley). In the same race Anika Thompson (Leevale and Oregon) was the first Irish lady home, finishing a very creditable 32nd place. In the men’s 10,000m event, Dean Casey (Ennis Track and Colorado) was the first Irish man home in 30th place. 

Regarded as one of the best and most competitive cross-country races in the World, the NCAA National Cross Country is an iconic fixture on the winter calendar. For year’s Irish athletes have walked in the thread of NCAA glory, a train of successes on their road to professional athletics. This year the success was Providence. The Friars were ranked 11th coming into today’s race. But in the minds of those seven ladies they were better. The surprise was going to be for those that lay ahead of them in the ranking list. On the day, they produced the goods. Top placed finisher was New Zealander Kimberley May who finished 10th. Behind her were two British athletes; Alex Millard in 20th and Shannon Flockhart who finished 24th. It was Laura Mooney who came next in 56th place. She was followed by three more Irish girls; Anna Gardiner (128), Niamh O’Mahoney (193) and Cara Laverty (200). 254 athletes finished the race. Quite different to the volume we get in Nationals in Ireland. The overall winner was Kenyan Doris Lemngole racing for Alabama. With two more Kenyans Pamela Kosgei (New Mexico) in second and Hilda Olemomoi (Florida) in third. Only three of the top ten athletes were American. The winning team was BYU from West Virginia and Providence in third. Incidentally all seven of the Providence girls were non-Americans. Six out of the seven West Virginians were foreign born. All the BYU athletes were American.

Under the auspices of head coach Ray Treacy, a Providence enigma (having coached for over three decades) and the newly appointed assistant coach Sinead Delahunty Evans (who herself finished 10th in 1990), the team has blazed their way through this year’s championship series. Three of the ladies finished in the top 10 at the Big East; Alex Millard (2nd), Kimberley May (6th) and Laura Mooney (10th). The team were beaten by Georgetown by just one point. They did not have Shannon Flockhart on that occasion. Fast forward to the Regionals just a fortnight later and you had another great result. This time the Friars produced the gold with four athletes in the Top 10. They had moved up into 11th place on the ranking list. Treacy knew there was something special going on. It has been a few years in the making, but the ladies’ team have bridged a substantial gap in Providences NCAA silverware, making them the highest placed team since 2013. An elated Treacy stated "It's a fantastic feeling to be back on the podium after nine years. The team got better as the season went along and they had their best race of the season today, which is the right time to do it.  Everybody executed the race brilliantly.  Everyone overachieved and finished higher than what was predicted." Providence ladies have won the NCAA title twice in their NCAA history, in 1995 and 2013. Individually Kim Smith won the NCAA individual title in 2004. 

Anika Thompson (Oregon) was the first Irish lady home. Thompson (Leevale) finished 32nd overall and was the third scorer on the Oregon team that finished in 5th place. Laura Nicholson (Toledo) was 131st with Sophie O’Sullivan (Washington) finishing in 135th.
The first Irishman home was Ennis Track’s Dean Casey (Colorado) who had a fantastic race to finish in 30th place. In doing so he led his Colorado team to 28th place. This is Casey’s highest placed NCAA Cross Country to date. Other Irish athletes to contest the men’s 10,000m event were: 57 Shane Brosnan (Harvard) 130 Shay McEvoy (Tulsa) 224 Sean Donohue (Villanova) 237 Oisin Spillane (Tulsa). Brosnan’s performance is noteworthy as he finished 80 places up on his position last year. His Harvard teammate Graham Banks retained his NCAA individual title. Second was Eritrean Habtom Samuel (New Mexico) with Dylan Schubert (Furman) in third. BYU made it a double as the added the men’s team title to that of their ladies. Iowa State were second with Arkansas third.
The Division II Cross Country was held in atrocious conditions with loughs of water spreading across the course surface. This was no problem to Irish athlete Ava O’Connor as finished 19th and was third scorer on the winning team. Eimear McGlynn (Catawba) finished 232rd.  

Ireland have had some individual success in the NCAA cross country with Providence being very prolific amongst the individual podium placings. Three Irishmen have been NCAA Cross Country champions. Neil Cusack (Limerick) won the title in 1972 with East Tennessee.  Sean Dolman (Western Kentucky) was the 1991 champion and Keith Kelly (Providence) won the title in 2000. Five men have had second place finishes; Donie Walsh (Villanova) in 1970, John Treacy (Providence) in 1977, Richard O’Flynn (Providence) 1984, Niall Brunton (Arkansas) in 1991 and Mark Carroll (Providence) in 1995. There have also been five third place finishes; Eddy Leddy (East Tennessee) in 1972, Gerry Deegan (Providence) in 1977, Mark Carroll (Providence) in 1992, Niall Brunton (Arkansas) in 1993 and Andrew Ledwith (Iona) in 2008.

The ladies have also had their successes too. Sonia O’Sullivan has been the only lady to win the national title. Additionally, she is also the only Irish athlete to ever do the NCAA Cross Country double. That was with Villanova back in 1990 and 1991. There have been three second place Irish female finishers: Regina Joyce (Washington) in 1982, Valarie McGovern (Kentucky) in 1989 and Marie McMahon (Providence) in 1996. Just one athlete attained a third-place finish and that was Mullingar’s Caroline Mullen (Western Michigan) in 1986.