BIDDEFORD, Maine – Gwen Koziara of the Suffolk women's cross country team single handily swept the weekly Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) awards as the Rams picked up both runner and rookie of the week, respectively, for her efforts at the 48th annual UMass Dartmouth Invitational, the league office announced Monday afternoon.
In her first collegiate 5K, Koziara set a Rams' rookie record with a. time of 19:08.40. Not only was the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania native the first Suffolk student-athlete to cross the tape, but she was the fastest CCC runner on the Robert Dowd Cross Country Course Saturday afternoon. In a field of 254 runners from 30 different institutions from every NCAA Division including Trinity, who ranked 10th in the first edition of the 2021 U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Regional ranksings, as well as CCC counterparts Roger Williams, Western New England and the University of New England, Koziara finished 24th overall.
Koziara, who led the Suffolk squad to a 13th-place team performance, is the first Rams female runner to take home a weekly award from the CCC. Her first collegiate weekly recognition marks the first time a Suffolk student-athlete garnered a weekly award since Emily Manfra grabbed her fourth GNAC Runner of the week Nov. 18, 2019. The awards sweep is a first for the blue-and-gold since Manfra and Marin Stamer garnered runner and rookie status from the GNAC Sept. 4, 2019, which marks the last time a Suffolk freshman was the league's best over a seven-day stretch as well.
Suffolk and Kozaira have the next two weekends off to prepare for Geneseo's Mike Woods Invitational Saturday, Oct. 2