The Skyhawks placed second at the NE-10 Championships for the second straight year. (PHOTO BY James Buck) |
Massey leads four Skyhawks with All-Conference performances
COLCHESTER, Vt. (October 25, 2015) – The Stonehill College men's cross country team, ranked 20th overall in the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Association (USTFCCCA) Division II national poll and first in the East Regional poll, finished as runners up at the 2015 Northeast-10 Conference men's cross country championships held in Colchester, Vermont, hosted by Saint Michael's College.
Stonehill, which saw four runners post All-Northeast-10 Conference performances on the day, finished with 72 points, just 24 points behind American International College who captured its second consecutive NE-10 title, with 48 points. Third place Franklin Pierce University (81 points), fourth place Southern New Hampshire University (110) and Bentley University (115) rounded out the top five. American International sophomore John Chirchir (Kapsabet, Kenya) won his first individual championship as he completed the eight-kilometer course in 24:55.9.
Senior Robert Massey (Chelmsford, Massachusetts/Chelmsford) led Stonehill's All-Conference performers with a fifth-place finish to earn first team honors with his time of 25:22.3, while junior Joseph Santo (Newburyport, Massachusetts/Newburyport) earned second team honors for the second-straight year with his time of 25:44.7 to place tenth overall.
Senior Rob Massey paced the Skyhawks with a fifth place finish to earn first team All-NE-10 honors. (PHOTO BY James Buck) |
Senior Daniel Gordon (Plymouth, Massachusetts/Plymouth North) and freshman Riley Dowd (Peabody, Massachusetts/Peabody Veterans Memorial) both earned All-NE-10 accolades after 14th and 21st place finishes, respectively. Dowd completed his first NE-10 championship run in 26:05.5, earning third team All-Conference while Gordon received second team All-Conference honors (25:52.6) for the first time, having won third team honors on three separate occasions.
Junior Antonio Xelhua (Arlington, Massachusetts/Arlington) placed 22nd this afternoon with a time of 26:06.8, while junior Tyler Henseler (Coventry, Rhode Island/Bishop Hendricken) and freshman Alexander Demeule (Merrimac, Massachusetts/Pentucket Regional) finished 30th and 34th, respectively. Henseler clocked in at 26:18.9, while Demeule earned a time of 26:22.9.
Freshman Larry Carney (Lowell, Massachusetts/Lowell) finished his first Northeast-10 Championship run with a time of 26:28.2 (37th) and junior Adam Rego (Rumford, Rhode Island/La Salle Academy) completed the course in 26:47.9, good for 45th place.
Rounding out Stonehill's entries were sophomore James Murphy (Longmeadow, Massachusetts/Longmeadow), freshman John Onken (Holbrook, New York/Sachem North), freshman Chris Drace (Franklin, New Jersey/Pope John XXIII) and classmate Steve Scala (Mansfield, Massachusetts/Bishop Feehan). Murphy placed 48th in 26:57.5, while Onken finished in 62nd, posting a time of 27:26.0. Drace placed 75th, earning a time of 27:41.0 and Scala rounded up the bunch, finished in 85th place out of 156 competitors with a time of 28:06.4.
Following today's Northeast-10 Conference Championship, Stonehill returns to action on November 8th at the NCAA Division II East Regional Championships, held at the Hopkinton State Fairgrounds in Hopkinton, New Hampshire, and hosted by Franklin Pierce University.
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