BOSTON – The 2010 America East Cross Country Championship meet was run at Franklin Park in Boston on Saturday afternoon. In the meet, the host Boston University men’s team took home its first title since 2000 while the women’s championship went to the Stony Brook University squad for the fourth year in a row. University of Maine junior Riley Masters (Bangor, Maine/Bangor) and Stony Brook senior Lucy Van Dalen (Wanganui, New Zealand/Wanganui Collegiate) won the individual championships.
In the men’s race, Boston University claimed four of the top 11 spots en route to scoring 45 points and upsetting defending-champion Binghamton University (54). University at Albany finished third (60) while University of Maine finished fourth (118) and UMBC (161) finished fifth to round out the top five teams. Stony Brook University (170), University of Vermont (186), University of Hartford (192) and University of New Hampshire (229) finished sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively.
For the women, Stony Brook (24 points) won its fourth-straight America East Conference championship by placing four runners in the top five. The Seawolves were followed by runner-up University of New Hampshire (63) and University of Maine (97) in third. Boston University (104) took home a fourth-place finish while University at Albany (109) took fifth. University of Vermont (sixth-121), Binghamton University (seventh-183), UMBC (eighth-231) and University of Hartford (ninth-277) rounded out the field.
In the men’s race, Masters paced the men’s field, finishing the 8,000-meter course in a time of 24:04.47, more than 17 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher, Boston U. graduate student Eric Ashe (Hanson, Mass./Whitman-Hanson). Masters and Ashe were followed by Albany sophomores Alex Leuchanka (Clifton Park, N.Y./Shenendehowa) and Paul Lagno (Salt Point, N.Y./Millbrook). Binghamton sophomore Jeff Martinez (Binghamton, N.Y./Johnson City) finished fifth, followed by teammate graduate student Chris Gaube (Vestal, N.Y./Vestal). A pair of Boston U. runners, freshman Rich Peters (Bristol, England/Brimsham Green School) and junior Robert Gibson (Brookline, Mass./Brookline/Texas) took seventh and eighth, respectively. Stony Brook senior Tim Hodge (Tawa, New Zealand/Victoria University) took ninth place and Vermont junior John Little (New Ipswich, NH / Mascenic Regional) rounded out the top ten. Those ten runners comprise the 2010 America East All-Conference team.
The women’s race was dominated by Stony Brook runners. Stony Brook senior Lucy Van Dalen crossed the finish line first, recording a time of 16:48.22 on the 5,000-meter course, just ahead of her teammate and sister, senior Holly Van Dalen (Wanganui, New Zealand/Wanganui Collegiate). In addition to the Van Dalen sisters, who went one-two, junior Hayley Green (Wellington, New Zealand/Victoria University) and freshman Annie Keown (Auckland, New Zealand/Auckland University) cracked the top five, finishing fourth and fifth, respectively. Maine junior Corey Conner (Townsend, Mass./North Middlesex Regional), last year’s individual champion, finished third overall. New Hampshire senior Sydney Fitzpatrick (Billerica, Mass./Billerica Memorial) grabbed sixth place overall. The next four runners, Vermont junior Morgan Powers (Cincinnati, Ohio/Indian Hills), Boston U. junior Kathryn Matthews (Rocky Hill, Conn./Rocky Hill), Maine senior Jordan Daniel (Corinna, Maine/Mt. Blue) and New Hampshire senior Erica Jesseman (Scarborough, Maine/Scarborough), all finished within seven seconds of each other to finish in the top 10 and earn spots on the all-conference squad.
The coaching staffs at Boston University and Stony Brook were selected by their peers as the men’s and women’s America East Coaching Staffs of the Year. This is the tenth time Boston U. coach Bruce Lehane has been honored on the men’s side and the first time since 2006. Stony Brook’s staff has now won the award six times in a row.
America East teams will next compete at the NCAA Regional meets on November 13.