Skyhawks Finish 13th At New England Championships

Polito earns All-New England honors with 11th place finish

Stephen Polito

DORCHESTER, Mass. (October 8, 2011) – The Stonehill College men's cross country team, ranked 24th in the most recent U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division II national poll and third in the East Regional poll, placed 13th overall at the New England Championships at Franklin Park on Saturday afternoon.

Senior Stephen Polito (Worcester, Mass./Doherty Memorial) garnered All-New England honors finishing 11th overall (out of 282 runners) in 25:07 on the eight-kilometer course.

The top-15 runners in the meet are selected to the All-New England squad.

Polito's 11th place showing ranked second among all Division II competitors as Glarius Rop (Eldoret, Kenya / Lelmokwo) of American International College (AIC) took top honors in the meet with a time of 24:12 crossing the finish line 22 seconds ahead of second place.

Stonehill tallied 319 points overall to finish in 13th place out 43 programs and second among all Division II teams. The University of Connecticut took first place with 149 points while Dartmouth (192) finished second and Boston University (211) ranked third. UMass Lowell, 11th overall, edged out the Skyhawks for top-honors among Division II teams with 292 points.

Sophomore Paul Cina (Pembroke, Mass./Pembroke) placed 45th overall in 25:55. Junior Ethan Penney (Haverhill, Mass./Haverhill) followed with a time of 26:03, 62nd overall, while sophomores Trent Fontanella (Pelham, N.H./Bishop Guertin) and Scott Waller (Andover, Mass./Andover) posted times of 26:32 (96th place) and 26:39 (105th overall), respectively.

Stonehill returns to action on Sunday, October 23 at the Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10) Championships hosted by AIC at Stanley Park in Westfield, Mass. at 10 a.m.

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