KINGSVILLE, Md. – A brisk morning that began with a dew-covered course turned into a bright and sunny day for the America East Cross Country Championship, where the Stony Brook men and New Hampshire women captured the conference’s 2016 titles on Saturday. In two of the closest contests in conference history, the Seawolves edged second-place Maine by a mere point on the men’s side while the Wildcats finished two points ahead of Stony Brook in the women’s team standings.
Maine’s Jesse Orach won the men’s individual title by finishing the 8K course first in a time of 24:35.3. New Hampshire’s Elinor Purrier claimed the women’s race for the second time in three years while setting a new championship record in the process with her time of 16:27.1.
Team Results
Men
1. Stony Brook 45 pts.
2. Maine 46
3. Albany 87
4. New Hampshire 100
5. Vermont 114
6. UMass Lowell 139
7. Binghamton 189
8. UMBC 194
9. Hartford 271
Women
1. New Hampshire 45 pts.
2. Stony Brook 47
3. UMass Lowell 67
4. Vermont 89
5. UMBC 105
6. Albany 183
7. Binghamton 195
8. Maine 230
9. Hartford 242
Men’s Top -14 Finishers (All-Conference Team)
First Team
1. Jesse Orach, Maine
2. Ryan Udvadia, Albany
3. Cameron Avery, Stony Brook
4. Thomas Teachen, UMass Lowell
5. Kyle Gronostaj, Albany
6. Daniel Connelly, Stony Brook
7. Pat Coppinger, Vermont
Second Team
8. Levi Frye, Maine
9. Nick Cruz, Stony Brook
10. Chris Biondi, Stony Brook
11. Aaron Willingham, Maine
12. Jacob Johns, Maine
13. Timothy Kenefick, New Hampshire
14. Joshua Horne, Maine
Women’s Top -14 Finishers (All-Conference Team)
First Team
1. Elinor Purrier, New Hampshire
2. Christina Melian, Stony Brook
3. Christine Eisenberg, Stony Brook
4. Annika Sisson, Stony Brook
5. Sophia Cologer, UMBC
6. Margaret Champagne, New Hampshire
7. Jaclyn Solimine, UMass Lowell
Second Team
8. Autumn Albrecht, Vermont
9. Hannah Kimball, New Hampshire
10. Kathryn Loughnane, UMass Lowell
11. Samantha Sayer, Vermont
12. Alli Wood, UMass Lowell
13. Melissa Menghini, New Hampshire
14. Elizabeth Caldwell, Stony Brook
Annual Awards
- The Most Outstanding Rookie awards went to Cameron Avery of Stony Brook and Margaret Champagne of New Hampshire as they were the top rookie finishers.
- The Stony Brook coaching staff, headed by Andy Ronan, was named Coaching Staff of the Year on the men’s side.
- Robert Hoppler and his staff at New Hampshire were awarded Coaching Staff of the Year on the women’s side for the fourth-straight year.
- The Elite 17 honor, which is awarded to the runners with the highest grade point average out of the top-ten finishers, was awarded to Orach for the men and Stony Brook’s Christina Melian, who placed second, for the women.
Need to Know
- Stony Brook's men's title is its first since 2012 and second in program history.
- The Seawolves' one-point margin of victory over Maine is the closest result since Albany and Boston University earned the same amount of points in 2011.
- New Hampshire became the third America East school to capture four-straight women's championships (Stony Brook, Boston U.).
- The Wildcats' two-point margin of victory over Stony Brook was the fewest since 1991.
- It's the fifth time a Maine student-athlete has won the men's individual title and the first time since 2011.
- Purrier broke fellow Wildcat Keely Maguire's meet record that was set in 2012.
- She is just the fourth runner to win the women's individual title twice and first since 2008.