STONY BROOK, N.Y. – History was made at the 2015 America East Cross Country Championship on Long Island Saturday. UMass Lowell captured the men’s team title, its first America East championship in any sport, and the New Hampshire women became just the third school to win the women’s championship in three straight years.
Individually, UMBC’s Hassan Omar became the first Retriever to win the men’s race and Stony Brook’s Christina Melian took the women’s race, the fourth Seawolf in the last six years to do so.
Placing five runners in the top 16, the River Hawks scored 42 points, 32 points ahead of the next closest team. The margin of victory is the highest in the men’s championship since 2002. Stony Brook placed second, a three-spot improvement from last year and its best finish since 2012, with 74 points. After winning the championship last year, Binghamton placed third (78 points), followed by Maine (95) in fourth, its best finish since 2011. UMBC (107) was fifth, Vermont (144) sixth, New Hampshire (152) seventh, Albany (176) eighth and Hartford (264) ninth.
On the women’s side, New Hampshire featured three of the top seven finishers and five of the top 19 en route to 45 points and its fourth-ever conference title. Never having placed higher than fourth previously, Albany came in second with 57 points, while the host Stony Brook followed in third place with 77 points. UMass Lowell (98) was fourth, UMBC (110) fifth, Vermont (145) sixth, Binghamton (187) seventh, Hartford (250) eighth and Maine (259) ninth.
The top 14 finishers in each race earned All-Conference honors with finishers 1-7 earning first-team honors and finishers 8-14 gaining second-team accolades.
Omar paced the men’s field finishing the 8K course in 24:43.21. He was followed by UMass Lowell’s tandem of Bobby Allen (24:48.81) in second and Paul Hogan (24:50.69) in third. Binghamton’s Collin Frost (25:10.73) was fourth, UMBC’s Austin Hayslett (25:14.59) fifth, Stony Brook’s Mitchell Kun (25:21.66) sixth and Maine’s Jessie Orach (25:24.48) seventh, to round out the first-team honorees.
Comprising the All-Conference second team was Albany’s Kyle Gronstaj (25:26.48) in eighth, Binghamton’s Ethan Hausamann (25:32.44) ninth, UMass Lowell’s Zach Ganshirt (25:32.61) 10th and John Abraham (25:34.78) 11th, Stony Brook’s Bryce Hedman (25:39.11) 12th, New Hampshire’s Sam Gagnon (25:39.17) 13th and Maine’s Levi Frye (25:39.68) in 14th.
Hedman was the top rookie finisher on the men’s side and earned the meet’s inaugural Most Outstanding Rookie award.
Melian led the women’s field, completing the 5K course in 17:53.24, 16.54 seconds faster than New Hampshire’s Laura Rose Donegan, the second-place finisher (18:09.70). It’s the largest margin of victory for the women’s individual champion since 2008. Albany’s Jessica Donahue (18:35.81) was third, New Hampshire’s Amber Short (18:36.78) fourth, UMBC’s Sophia Cologer (18:46.07) fifth, UMass Lowell’s Jackie Solimine (18:48.51) sixth and New Hampshire’s Brianna Boden (18:54.19) seventh, to round out the first-team All-Conference recipients.
Albany’s Johanna Smith (18:56.81) and Molly Pezzulo (18:57.31) headed the second-team All-America East squad in eighth and ninth place, respectively. That duo was followed by UMass Lowell’s Allie Morris (19:00.80) and Kathryn Loughnane (19:05.72) in 10th and 11th, respectively, Stony Brook’s Christine Eisenberg (19:06.21) in 12th, New Hampshire’s Samantha Blais (19:07.61) in 13th and Vermont’s Anna Kaplan (19:08.28) in 14th.
Morris was the top rookie finisher on the women’s side and earned the meet’s inaugural Most Outstanding Rookie award.
The coaching staffs of the team champions were honored as Coaching Staffs of the Year, with UMass Lowell earning the honor for the first time and New Hampshire garnering the accolade for the third-straight year.
Jessie Orach and Laura Rose Donegan were recognized as the 2015 America East Elite 18 recipients. Orach, a senior, carries a 3.93 GPA in chemical engineering while Donegan, a senior, has a perfect 4.00 GPA in political science. The award, in its second year, is given to the top students competing in each America East Championship. For cross country, the award goes to the top 10 men’s and women’s finisher with the highest GPA.