Stonehill College Skyhawks

Women seek second-straight title and ninth overall at 10 a.m.
Men also go for second-straight championship and fifth overall at 11 a.m. 

EASTON, Mass. (November 5, 2010) – Stonehill College is proud to host the 2010 Northeast-10 Conference men’s and women’s cross country championships on Sunday with the women’s five-kilometer race set for 10 a.m., and the men’s eight-kilometer race to follow at 11 a.m.

The Stonehill women, ranked first in the East Region all season-long and 25^th in this week’s U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division II poll, will be looking to win its second-straight NE-10 Championship and ninth in program history on Sunday. The Skyhawks are coming off a fourth place finish two weeks ago at the Kutztown Division II Challenge where it was the top East Regional team at the meet. Stonehill also finished first among Division II teams (24^th overall) at the New England Championships and won the team title at the Trinity Bantams Invitational to open the year.

Junior Jill Alves seeks her third-straight first team All-Conference performance on Sunday. (PHOTO BY Richard Orr)

Junior Jill Alves (Whitman, Mass./Whitman-Hanson), a two-time first team All-Northeast-10 performer, has been Stonehill’s top runner all season long and is coming off a 14^th place finish at the Kutztown Division II Challenge with her time of 23:22 over six-kilometers. She also placed second among DII runners at the New England Championships with a time of 19:21 over 5K.

Stonehill has also gotten strong performances this season from sophomore Lynley Joynt (Guilderland, N.Y./Guilderland), an All-Conference performer as a freshman, junior Kristen Mahoney (Weymouth, Mass./Weymouth) and senior Lindsey Booth (Franklin, Mass./Franklin), an All-Conference performer last fall.

The Northeast-10 features nine of the ten teams ranked in this week’s USTFCCCA East Regional rankings. Following top-ranked Stonehill are No. 2 UMass Lowell, No. 3 Southern Connecticut State University, No. 4 Bentley University, No. 5 Southern New Hampshire University, No. 7 The College of Saint Rose, No. 8 Saint Anselm College, No. 9 Adelphi University and tenth-ranked Merrimack College. Individuals expected to contend on Sunday include American International College sophomore Jeptui Cherutich (Springfield, Mass./Maji Mazuri Girl’s), Alves and UMass Lowell sophomore Kelly Walton (Nahant, Mass./Swampscott).

In addition to capturing the NE-10 championship last fall at Saint Michael’s College, Stonehill has won women’s titles in 2000-2004 and 2006 and 2007.

All-New England performer Patrick Fullerton looks to add an NE-10 Championship to his belt on Sunday. (PHOTO BY Richard Orr)

The Stonehill men, ranked second in the East Region and 20^th in this week’s USTFCCCA Division II poll, are also looking to successfully defend its NE-10 Championship and fifth overall in program history. The Skyhawks have won two events so far this season and are coming off a second-place finish at the Kutztown Division II Challenge two weeks ago. Stonehill won the team titles at the Trinity Bantams Invitational and Quinnipiac Invitational to open the year and placed third among Division II teams at the New England Championships last month.

Senior Patrick Fullerton (Bradford, Mass./Haverhill), a first team All-NE-10 performer last fall, earned All-New England honors last month at the New England Championships with his tenth place showing as he completed the eight-kilometer course in 24:48 and turned in a first place finish at the Kutztown DII Challenge two weeks ago with a course record time of 25:35 over 8K.

Senior Daniel Pilz (Newington, Conn./Newington) and junior Stephen Polito (Worcester, Mass./Doherty Memorial) have also been strong performers for the Skyhawks this fall. Pilz, a two-time All-NE-10 performer, led the squad to its team title at Quinnipiac with a third-place finish overall in 27:03 over 8K, while finishing 13^th at Kutztown in 26:22 two weeks ago. Polito, also a two-time All-Conference runner, is coming off an eighth place finish at Kutztown two weeks ago in 25:55 after taking third at Trinity and sixth among Division II runners at the New England Championships (25:31).

The top seven teams in this week’s USTFCCCA East Regional rankings all hail from the Northeast-10. UMass Lowell, ranked 12^th nationally, leads the way in the region, followed by Stonehill, No. 3 Bentley, No. 4 American International, No. 5 Saint Rose, No. 6 Southern Connecticut and seventh-ranked Adelphi. AIC sophomore Glarius Rop (Eldoret, Kenya) will be looking to defend his NE-10 individual championship on Sunday, but will be challenged by Fullerton and UMass Lowell senior Angus MacDonald (Methuen, Mass./Central Catholic) and junior Eric McDonald (Groveland, Mass./Pentucket).

In addition to capturing the NE-10 championship at Saint Michael’s last fall, Stonehill has also won the title in 2004, 2005 and 2007.

Both Stonehill teams will return to action following Sunday’s meet when it competes in two weeks at the NCAA Division II East Regional at Franklin Park in Dorchester, Mass., on Sunday, November 21.