Leonard leads the way for Stonehill with career best mark
|
| Stephen Leonard |
WESTFIELD, Mass. (October 7, 2012) – The Stonehill College men's cross country team, ranked 12th overall in the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Association (USTFCCCA) Division II national poll and first in the East Regional poll, placed 14th overall out of 37 teams at the New England Championships at Stanley Park.
Stonehill, who did not have its top-seven compete on the 8-kilometer course, ranked third among ten other NCAA Division II schools scoring 429 points. Dartmouth College won the team title with 83 points while American International College freshman Michael Biwott (Kapsowar, Kenya / Kerio Valley Secondary School) claimed individual top honors covering the Stanley Park 8-kilometer course in 23:56.16.
Junior Stephen Leonard (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) turned in a career best performance on Sunday afternoon to lead the Skyhawks placing 38th overall in 25:15.52. Leonard shattered his previous best mark of 25:49.32 set on October 23, 2011 at the Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10) Championships.
Senior Tim Johnson (Thomaston, Conn./Thomaston) placed 75th overall in 25 minutes and 41.03-seconds, nearly ten seconds faster than his previous career best which was also set at last year's NE-10 Championships.
Junior Michael Amirault (Walpole, Mass./Xaverian Brothers) crossed the finish line in 96th place (25:54.62), senior Sam Spencer (Seekonk, Mass./Seekonk) ranked 109th overall (26:02.43) and freshman Robert Massey (Chelmsford, Mass./Chelmsford) checked in at 111th overall with a time of 26:03.61 to round out the Skyhawks top-five.
In the sub-varsity race, Stonehill had three runners place inside the top-50 as junior Nate Webber (Atkinson, N.H./Central Catholic) finished 20th overall (26:09.22), sophomore Michael Gendron (Lowell, Mass./Lowell) was 26th overall (26:19.28) and classmate Seamus McEvoy (Longmeadow, Mass./Longmeadow) ranked 29th in 26:22.99.
Stonehill returns to action on Saturday, October 20 at the NE-10 Championships in Syracuse, N.Y. at Le Moyne College. The Skyhawks will look to repeat as conference champions after securing their fifth title overall in program history last season.
