Senior Stephen Polito led the way for Stonehill with his 96th place finish overall. (PHOTO BY Shawn Toner) |
Skyhawks place 21st overall for third-straight season at NCAA National Championships
SPOKANE, Wash. (November 19, 2011) – The Stonehill College men's cross country team, making its ninth-straight appearance to the NCAA Division II National Championships, finished 21st overall out of 24 teams at the Plantes Ferry Regional Park on Saturday afternoon.
Western State, who placed all five of its scoring runners within the top-13 of the meet, claimed its first national championship since 2005 and eighth NCAA Division II title in program history scoring 27 points. Adams State placed second overall with 69 points and Grand Valley State finished third overall with 100 points. Stonehill compiled 609 points to finish 21st out of 24 teams.
Senior Stephen Polito (Worcester, Mass./Doherty Memorial) led the Skyhawks with a time of 33:42.5 on the 10-kilometer course for a 96th place finish overall out of 187 runners.
Junior Corey Donahoe (Billerica, Mass./Billerica Memorial) crossed the finish line in 33 minutes and 50 seconds to claim the 106th spot while freshman Daniel Gordon (Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth North) finished 124th overall in 34:18.4.
Sophomore Scott Waller (Andover, Mass./Andover) finished 141st overall (34:56.9) with classmate Trent Fontanella (Pelham, N.H./Bishop Guertin) just behind in 142nd place (34.58.0).
Junior Ethan Penney (Haverhill, Mass./Haverhill) placed 148th overall with a time of 35:10.4 and sophomore Paul Cina (Pembroke, Mass./Pembroke) rounded out Stonehill's top-seven in 35:39.7, 155th overall.
Stonehill earned its ninth-straight trip to the NCAA Division II National Championships by finishing second at the East Regionals. The Skyhawks also claimed their fifth Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10) championship in program history earlier this fall placing four of its scoring runners in the top-10 of the meet.
