For the first time in 10 years, it was not Central Connecticut’s men’s cross country team hoisting the Northeast Conference championship, but it was Central’s women’s team, who brought home the title for the first time in 19 years.

The Blue Devils were propelled to victory by sophomore Angelia Rafter, who finished in first place overall, finishing the five-kilometer course in just over 18 minutes, besting the second place finisher by over 11 seconds.

But it wasn’t just Rafter who contributed to the team victory, as all five Blue Devils whose score counted finished in the top 15 overall.

Sophomore Megan Brawner, finished just 20 seconds behind her teammate, taking fourth place.

“Angie and Megan work really well together. They push each other in practice and in races. I think we are just starting to see what they can accomplish,” head coach Eric Blake said of the two sophomores.

Junior Dawn Hubbell, finished the course in 18 minutes and 52 seconds, good for twelfth place.

Senior Madeline Mondo, in just her second race of the season, finished just five seconds behind Hubbell, coming in fourteenth place.

Ashley Dana, who was named conference Rookie of the Week for her performance at the CCSU Mini Meet finished fifteenth overall, coming in seven seconds over 19 minutes. Dana was the highest placing freshman and was named the Women’s Cross Country Freshman of the Year.

Blake called Dana a “big talent” and said she “came through when the pressure was on.”

The Blue Devils needed every position, as they edged runner-up Saint Francis (PA) by just two points.

Showing the depth the team possesses, sophomore Sabrina Chesters finished in the top 20, but did not have her time count towards her team’s total. To put things into perspective, five of the 10 competing schools did not have a single runner finish in the top 20, while Central had six.

“The last few weeks we really started to come together,” Blake said of the women’s team. “Adding Madeline back was a key factor because it allowed the whole team to really believe it could happen.”

On the men’s side, Alex Norstrom continued to run up front, placing fourth overall, finishing the eight-kilometer course in just under 26 minutes, twelve seconds behind Wagner’s Trausti Thorstein, who finished first.

Defending conference Athlete of the Week Roberto Piotto finished sixth, coming in three seconds after the 26-minute mark.

Junior Richard Grudzwick finished the course in twelfth place, good enough to put him on the all-conference team with his two teammates.

Sophomore Charles Taubl and freshman Robert Moore rounded out the runners whose score counted towards the Blue Devils’ total of 72. This placed them a whopping 28 points behind Mount St. Mary’s, who easily took the conference crown with a score of 44, with four of their five runners placing in the top 10.

“I still need to completely evaluate what went wrong [on the men’s side],” Blake said. “Every guy was about five to 10 spots off of where we expected them to finish so I messed up somewhere.”

This is the first time in Blake’s 10-year tenure that the men’s team did not win the conference championship, but his first time winning on the women’s side.

But this does not mark the end of the season for either group, as they will take on the NCAA Northeast Regionals in Amherst, New York on Friday, Nov. 9.