Nov. 21, 2008
LOWELL - The UMass Lowell men's cross country team has its best lineup since the 1991 squad which won the NCAA Division II Championship.
The River Hawk women's squad has been described as the best team in program history.
UMass Lowell Head Coach Gary Gardner isn't expecting the national championship on either front, but he is targeting lofty finishes.
Both the UML men and women, fresh off capturing the NCAA East Region Championships on Nov. 9, take part in the NCAA Championship Saturday at Slippery Rock University. The men's 10K is slated for 12:00 while the women's 5K is scheduled for 1:15.
Along with experience - the men are making their eighth straight trip to the NCAAs and the women sixth successive - the River Hawks have the climate on their side. Saturday's forecast calls for a high of 29 degrees with snow flurries possible.
It is music to the ears of New England Runners in November.
"The weather is going to be a huge factor and with the course being as tough as it is, it's going to make it an even bigger factor," said Gardner. "Some of it is mental. For us, it's not going to get into our heads. It might be tough for some of the foreign runners and southern schools. I doubt they've ever seen anything like this."
On the men's side, the River Hawks have enjoyed a magnificent year, pocketing both the Northeast-10 Conference and NCAA East Region championships, as well as the New England Championship, which is undoubtedly the team's greatest achievement this season.
"Our goal is a top 10 finish. Anything higher would be a great achievement," Gardner noted. "A top eight finish would give our region another bid, which is important to us. If we can put together a perfect race we could finish as high as sixth. We've got a good shot to achieve that.
"This is easily the best field I've seen in eight years in Division II," Gardner added. "So finishing in the top eight or 10 is really an achievement."
The UML men, 13th at the 2007 NCAA Championship, have been led by senior Ruben Sanca (Boston, MA), the NCAA East Region Runner of the Year, who earned All-American honors last season by placing 24th overall and 22nd among scoring runners.
Sanca is well-supported by junior Rex Radloff (Dedham, MA), sophomore Angus MacDonald (Methuen, MA) and senior Jason DeDonato (Nashua, NH), each of whom were members of the All-East Region Team alongside senior Jack Kilcommons (South Boston, MA) and freshman Jeff Veiga (Lowell, MA).
"We have to worry about what we're doing on the course, not what anyone else is doing," said Gardner. "That has been our approach all year. If we take care of our business, things will take care of themselves and good things tend to happen."
The UMass Lowell women - also the NE-10 and East Region Champions - look to eclipse their best finish (17th, in 2004), but will do so without sophomore Lyra Clark (Nashua, NH), who ran the NE-10 and East Region meets with a stress fracture in her foot and will sit out the NCAAs.
However, Gardner believes the women's team is capable of finishing as high as 16th.
"This may be the best top to bottom team we've ever brought to a championship, even without Lyra," Gardner said. "With Lyra, I think we could finish as high as 12th, but we would definitely like to crack the top 20."
The River Hawks have been paced all year by senior Christina DaLomba (Marstons Mills, MA), who stunned the field at the East Region Championship by capturing the individual title following a second-place showing at the NE-10 meet.
"I think Christina has a chance to be an All-American, and that would bode really well for the rest of the team," Gardner said. "We ran our best race at the NE-10 and a better race at the East Region meet."
Also representing UMass Lowell will be All-East Region senior Sarah Brassard (Oxford, MA) and junior Haley Catarius (Marshfield, MA) as well as senior Emily Thomas (Foxboro, MA), sophomore Elizabeth Carr (Randolph, MA) and sophomore Ivory Farren (Chelmsford, MA), who will replace Clark.
"We weren't a very good team in September," Gardner explained. "We were an OK team in October and a very good team in November. That's how we wanted things to work out this year."
