America East cross-country runners took to the course against some of the nation’s top ranked teams. New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine all ran at the Finish Lynx/Murray Keatinge Invitational, Albany, UMBC and Binghamton competed at Lehigh’s Paul Short Run, and Stony Brook represented America East in the 2003 Metropolitan Championships.
Finish Lynx/Murray Keatinge Invitational (Complete Results: Men|Women)
The Finish Lynx/Murray Keatinge Invitational featured multiple teams that are ranked nationally, including Stanford, ranked number one in men’s cross country and ranked number nine in women’s by the NCAA. Also running were Indiana and Butler, ranked 19th and 31st respectively in men’s cross country.
New Hampshire runner Lesley Read (Dover, N.H./Dover) led all America East women’s runners and legged out a time of 17:33, good for a 9th place finish. Read was followed closely by teammate Caitlin Hayes (Keene, N.H./Keene) in 12th, who helped to seal the Wildcats’ 4th place finish overall with 100 points. Vermont followed in 4th place with 112 points, while Maine finished in 5th place with 136 points. Tee Gingras (Barre, Vt./Spaulding), who finished in 14th place with a time of 18:04, topped the rankings for Vermont, while Heather Jovanelli (Brewer, Maine/Brewer) led the way for Maine in 17th place at 18:17.
For the men, Stephen Meinelt (Topsfield, Mass./Topsfield) finished 14th overall with a time of 24:27 to lead New Hampshire to a 7th place finish with 181 points. Maine, behind the strong finish of Jeffrey Carron (Auburn, Maine/Edward Little) who placed 41st at 25:24, finished 8th overall with 256 points. Vermont rounded out the America East teams with an 11th place finish.
Lehigh’s Paul Short Run (Complete Results: Men|Women)
At Lehigh’s Paul Short Run, there was also a surplus of nationally ranked teams facing the America East runners. Four nationally ranked teams, Georgetown (10th), Villanova (13th), Penn State (17th) and Tennessee (22nd), ran in the women’s field, while Georgetown ranked 14th and Villanova ranked 16th ran in the men’s race.
Albany’s Andy Alstadt (Endicott, N.Y./Union-Endicott) led the America East men’s pack with a 27th place finish at 25:10. Adam Driscoll (Sewell, N.J./Washington Township) guided UMBC with a time of 25:18, good for a 37th place finish, while Pete Chambers (Newark, N.Y./ Newark) was the top finisher for Binghamton. Albany finished 13th out of the huge field of 33 teams, while UMBC and Binghamton placed 16th and 28th respectively for the men.
Topping the America East women’s group was Stefanie Thomas (Springfield, Pa./Springfield) of UMBC, who placed 36th with a time of 22:05. The Retrievers placed 15th overall, just three points behind Binghamton who finished in 14th. Albany followed closely behind, finishing 16th out of 32 teams. Lindsey Bohrer-Yardley (Oneida, N.Y./ Vernon-Verona-Sherrill) finished with a time of 22:23 and a 53rd place finish for Binghamton, while Meghan Howell (Sloatsburg, N.Y./Suffern) led the Great Danes with a time of 22:44.
2003 Metropolitan Championships (Complete Results: Men|Women)
Stony Brook runner Jackie Nunez (Mt. Sinai, N.Y./Suffolk Community College) stole the show as she topped all runners and finished in first place with a time of 18:03 at the 2003 Metropolitan Championships at Van Cortlandt Park in Bronx, N.Y. Columbia, ranked number 11 in the nation captured the team title, while Stony Brook finished in 7th place.
On the men’s side, Dale Summerville (Waiuku, New Zealand/King's College) was the top Seawolves finisher with a time of 26:04, good for 9th overall. The Stony Brook men managed an 8th place finish, while Iona, ranked 10th in the nation, finished first overall.