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 Maine Wins America East Men's Cross Country Championship
Oct. 30, 2004 DURHAM, N.H. - Mike Lansing finished second to lead five Maine runners in the top nine as the Black Bears won their first America East Men's Cross Country Championship at the University of New Hampshire course on Saturday. The Maine men finished with 28 points to outdistance New Hampshire, which had won the three previous championships, with 58. Stony Brook was third with 71 points followed by Albany (76), UMBC (118), Boston University (165), Binghamton (194), Vermont (201), Northeastern (280) and Hartford (300). The Black Bear women finished ninth in the conference with 188 points. Mike Lansing (Lovell, Maine) covered the 8,000-meter course in 24:31.40 to finish second behind individual champion Anthony Truax of New Hampshire, who ran 24:27.00, the fourth fastest time in conference history. Maine's Jeff Caron (Auburn, Maine) and Edward Caron (Topsham, Maine), finished fourth and fifth, respectively with times of 24:32 and 24:38. Kirby Davis (Falmouth, Maine) with a time of 24:44 and Donald Drake (Portland, Maine) with a time of 24:46 finished eighth and ninth, respectively, to round out the team score for the Black Bears, who were winners for the first time in 17 tries since the championship was first held in 1988. In the women's race, Hana Pelletier (Belgrade, Maine) was the top Maine finisher with a time of 18:01 for ninth place overall. She was followed by Teig Choroszy (Saco, Maine) and Shelby Howe (Columbia, Maine) in 39th and 40th place. Brie Jellison (Ellsworth, Maine) finished with a time of 19:26. Charlotte Howley (Wilton, Maine), Miranda Szwec (Bangor, Maine) and Kristen Vidlak (Thunder Bay, Ontario) rounded out the scoring for the Black Bears with times of 19:44, 19:48 and 19:49 respectively. Boston University posted a team score of 27 to earn their 13th championship in 16 tries. New Hampshire, which won its first championship last year, was a distant second with 85 points. Stony Brook finished third with 93 points, followed by Binghamton (117), Vermont (139), Albany (160), UMBC (164), Northeastern (173), Maine (188) and Hartford (330).
Maine's coaching staff, led by Jim Ballinger and Mark Lech was chosen America East Men's Coaching Staff of the Year. Boston University's staff, led by Bruce Lehane, was named America East Women's Coaching Staff of the Year. The men's team will run at the NCAA Regionals in New York on November 13. For more information on athletics at the University of Maine, visit www.GoBlackBears.com. |
