TERRE HAUTE, Ind. ? Senior Cathy Parker (Westford, Mass.), of the University of New
Hampshire women’s cross country team, placed 28th overall at the 253-runner NCAA
National Championships on Monday, Nov. 19 to become the first All-American in
UNH’s running program in nearly 15 years.
Parker ends
one of the most successful cross country careers in UNH history by finishing the
6,000 meter course in a time of 20 minutes, 53.4 seconds. Just 7.9 seconds
separated Parker and the 21st spot, while 20.1 seconds were the difference
between Parker and 13th place. Parker was the second
quickest New England runner and the third fastest runner from the Northeast
region. Parker competed in the NCAA
National Championships for the second straight year after receiving one of only
two individual at-large bids for the entire country. Since 1996, UNH’s cross country
program has sent four different runners to the NCAAs. Of the four, Parker is the
only member of the women’s team, as well as the only one to go
twice. Parker was named America East Women’s Cross
Country Performer of the Week this season Oct. 2 and Oct. 16. She also garnered
ECAC Women’s Cross Country Athlete of the Week honors Oct. 2.
The Stony Brook women's cross country team finished 31st at the NCAA Division I Championships. The Seawolves were led by sophomore Jessica Hampson (Smithtown, N.Y.), who finished 63rd overall with a time of 21:28. Senior Dana Hastie (Wellington, New Zealand) finished 148th (22:15), freshman Holly Van Dalen (Wanganui, New Zealand) crossed 154th (22:18), senior Kerry Salzano (Staten Island, N.Y.) finished 155th (22:18), sophomore Laura Huet (Carrickmines, Ireland) finished 162nd (22:25), freshman Lucy van Dalen (Wanganui, New Zealand) finished 169th (22:33) and senior Elizabeth Carlson (Lincoln, R.I.) crossed 175th (22:35). This was the first time in program history that the women's cross country team had qualified for the NCAA Championships.
At the 2007 IC4A/ECAC Men's Cross Country Championships this past weekend in Van Cortlandt Park, the University of New Hampshire ran to victory. In the University Race, New Hampshire's score of 62 was good for a narrow victory over Army (67). Binghamton University finished third overall with a score of 151. University of Albany's Ricardo Estremera (San Juan, Puerto Rico/University) crossed the finish line first in a time of 25:35 in the 5 mile race. Brent Powers (Remsden, N.Y./Holland-Patent) of New Hampshire finished fourth (25:54) followed by teammates Wesley Dinnan (Juneau, AK/Juneau-Douglas) and Joshua Kearns (Ridgefield, Ct./Ridgefield) for eighth and ninth place, respectively.
On the women's side, New Hampshire won the University Race with a score of 68,
finishing ahead of Colgate (96) and Army (153). Binghamton came in fifth with 178 points, and Albany finished ninth with 287 points. Leading the way for New Hampshire was Erica
Jesseman (Scarborough, Maine), in a time of 18:15. Also finishing in the top 10 was Ashley Horton (Candor, N.Y.) of Binghamton for fifth (18:39), New Hampshire's Laura LaPlante (Peterborough, NH) in sixth (18:41), and Laura Cummings (Bay Shore, N.Y./Bay Shore-University of North Carolina) of Albany posting a time of 18:42 for seventh.
[NCAA Women's Results]
[Men's ECAC Results]
[Women's ECAC Results]