October 22, 2006                    

2006 NORTHEAST-10 CONFERENCE CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIP
UMass Lowell Men and Stonehill Women Victorious

Men's Team / Men's Individual / Women's Team / Women's Individual   

SMITHFIELD, RI -  The UMass Lowell men's cross country team captured the 2006 Northeast-10 Conference Championship with a solid team performance here Sunday morning.  The River Hawks placed four runners in the top six to finish with a team total of 24 points.  Stonehill, the two-time conference champion on the men's side, finished second with 47 points. 

Southern Connecticut freshman Chris Croff was the overall winner of the 8-kilometer race, edging UML's Ruben Sanca by the narrowest of margins,  with Croff finishing in 25 minutes, 53 seconds and Sanca a second behind at 25:54.  Joey Dewitt and Rex Radloff placed third and fourth respectively with Stonehill's Keith Gill placing fifth in 26:14. 

Stonehill placed three runners in the top-10 with David Metzger and Joe Ryan finishing eighth and ninth respectively to help lead the Skyhawks to the second-place finish. 

On the women's side, Stonehill avenged last year's one-point loss to UMass Lowell which snapped the Skyhawk's string of five consecutive titles with a tremendous showing Sunday.  Led by Dana DeIngenis' third-place finish in 19:09, the Skyhawks had five runners in the top-10 to cruise to a first-place finish with 32 points. 

Defending champion UMass Lowell, led by overall winner Nicole Plante (18:44) took second with 49 points.  Bentley placed third with 120 points thanks in part to the running of sophomore Melissa Nash who placed second overall behind Plante in 19:08.