CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—The United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced the field for the 2010 NCAA national cross country meet. Among the competitors are the Stony Brook University women, who qualified as a team, University of Maine junior Corey Conner (Townsend, Mass./North Middlesex Regional) and Binghamton University senior Erik van Ingen (Marathon, N.Y./Marathon/Canisius). Both Conner and van Ingen will be competing at Nationals for the second straight year. Indiana State will host the national meet in Terre Haute, Ind., on Monday, November 22.
The Stony Brook women earned an automatic bid to the NCAA national meet by finishing second overall at the Northeast regional meet on November 13 in Madison, Conn. The Seawolves scored 83 points, just five points behind regional champion Syracuse. Stony Brook was led by seniors Lucy Van Dalen (Wanganui, New Zealand/Wanganui Collegiate) and Holly Van Dalen (Wanganui, New Zealand/Wanganui Collegiate). The sisters finished first and second, respectively, at the regional meet, identical to their finish at the America East Championship meet. Lucy finished the 6,000-meter course in 19:38.4 while Holly finished in 19:42.0. The Seawolves had two other runners finish in the top 10, as freshman Annie Keown (Auckland, New Zealand/Auckland University) took eighth place and junior Hayley Green (Wellington, New Zealand/Victoria University) finished tenth. This is the third time in four years the Seawolves will compete at Nationals as a team.
Maine’s Corey Conner qualified for the women’s national meet as an individual. Conner finished fourth overall at the Northeast regional meet. Conner, who finished third at the America East Championship meet, ran the 6k regional course in 19:57.3. This will be Conner’s second appearance in the national meet.
Binghamton’s Erik van Ingen was able to qualify for the men’s national meet as an individual. Van Ingen, who ran in the national meet last fall, finished 12th overall in the Northeast regional meet, posting a time of 30:17.1 on the 10k course. His finish was tops at the meet among America East men.
All 18 America East men’s and women’s cross country teams ran in their respective regional meets. University at Albany, Binghamton, Boston University, University of Hartford, Maine, University of New Hampshire, Stony Brook and University of Vermont ran in the Northeast regional meet. UMBC ran in the Mid-Atlantic regional meet, held in University Park, Pa.
For the men, Boston U. was the top finisher among America East squads, finishing seventh overall with 239 points. Albany (357 points) and Binghamton (397 points) were next for America East men, taking 13th and 14th, respectively. Stony Brook checked in next at 20th with 510 points, followed by Maine in 21st with 596 points and Vermont in 23rd with 649 points. Hartford took 26th place with 748 points and New Hampshire finished 29th with 778 points. The UMBC men recorded 347 points, good for 13th place in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Three America East men were Northeast All-Region selections. Van Ingen, Boston U. graduate student Eric Ashe (Hanson, Mass./Whitman-Hanson) and Boston U. junior Matthew Paulson (Manchester, N.H./Manchester Central) each earned the distinction by finishing in the top 25 individually in the Northeast regional meet.
For the women, Stony Brook paced America East teams with 83 points and a second-place finish. New Hampshire and Boston U. also finished in the top 10 teams, scoring 273 and 315 points to take ninth and 10th place, respectively. Maine finished 16th overall with 395 points while Vermont finished 18th with 482 points. The Binghamton women took 25th place, scoring 753 points. Albany and Hartford did not score in the meet. The UMBC women finished 19th in the Mid-Atlantic meet, scoring 585 points.
Six women from America East teams earned All-Region honors for finishing 25th or better. Conner, New Hampshire senior Sydney Fitzpatrick (Billerica, Mass./Billerica Memorial) and Stony Brook’s Lucy and Holly Van Dalen, Keown and Green all were named to the Northeast All-Region team.