Seniors Rob Massey and Dan Gordon earned All-Region honors after finishing in seventh and ninth place, respectively. |
Skyhawks punch ticket to 13th straight NCAA Championships
HOPKINTON, N.H. (November 8, 2015) – The Stonehill College men's cross country team, ranked 24th overall in the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Association (USTFCCCA) Division II national poll and second in the East Regional poll, guaranteed itself a 13th straight trip to the NCAA Division II Championships with a third place finish today at the NCAA East Regional Championship at the Hopkinton State Fairgrounds.
Stonehill came in third place at today's event with 122 total points, 77 points behind champion American International College who finished with 45 points. Bentley University finished second (103 points), while Franklin Pierce University (126 points) and Southern New Hampshire University (143 points) finished in fourth and fifth place respectively to round out the top five. American International's John Chirchir (Kapsabet, Kenya/Laboret Boys) won the individual title with a time of 30:49.0.
Senior Robert Massey (Chelmsford, Massachusetts/Chelmsford) led the way for Stonehill today, as he placed seventh overall. Massey completed the ten kilometer course in 31:33.8. Senior Dan Gordon (Plymouth, Massachusetts/Plymouth North), placed ninth overall, clocking in at 31:49.4. Massey and Gordon both earned All-Region honors after their top-10 finishes in today's meet.
Junior Antonio Xelhua (Arlington, Massachusetts/Arlington) rounded out Stonehill's All-Region performers on the afternoon, clocking in at 32:14.3, good for 18th place. Freshman Larry Carney (Lowell, Massachusetts/Lowell), competing in his first East Regional Championship, finished in 37th out of 189 competitors with a time of 32:55.2.
Freshman Riley Dowd (Peabody, Massachusetts/Peabody Veterans Memorial) placed 51st and clocked in at 33:29.4, while junior Joseph Santo (Newburyport, Massachusetts/Newburyport) and classmate Tyler Henseler (Coventry, Rhode Island/Bishop Hendricken) recorded times of 33:38.8 and 33:48.2, good for 56th and 60th respectively. Both Santo and Henseler were competing in the second East Region Championship of their careers.
The Stonehill College men's team will be joined by the women's squad at the NCAA Division II National Championships on Saturday, November 21st. The Skyhawks women's program captured their sixth NCAA East Regional title in the past seven years and 16th-straight trip to the NCAA championships scoring 48 points this afternoon.
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