Oct. 11, 2008

BOSTON - Senior Ruben Sanca (Boston, MA) placed second overall and junior Rex Radloff (Dedham, MA) third as UMass Lowell captured the 96th running of the New England Cross Country Championship Saturday afternoon at Franklin Park.

The championship - which pits Division I, II and III colleges against one another - is UMass Lowell's second title in three years. In 2006, the River Hawks became the first non-Division I school to win the title in the race's history, which dates back to 1912, and placed second in the 2007 race.

"For us, this is as big as it gets inside New England," said UML Head Coach Gary Gardner. "Other than winning an NCAA title, this is as big as it gets for us. It's not a given that a school our size and our resources can win a New England title, so when we have a shot, we take it."

The River Hawks scored 79 points (2, 3, 16, 28, 30 - 96, 111) and edged the University of New Hampshire (89), 2007 champion Brown (97), Dartmouth (192), UMass (196) and Boston University (264).

Amherst College (264) shared sixth place with Boston University and was followed by Williams (267), Boston College (299) and Stonehill (314).

The meet drew 316 runners representing 47 colleges from New England.

Sanca ran the five-mile course in 24 minutes, 36 seconds and placed second only to Tim Ritchie of Boston College, who held off Sanca at the finish by a mere second. The two maintained a 5:00-per mile pace.

"Both Ruben and Rex ran very mature races," Gardner said. "They sat in the lead pack through 5,000 meters and touched the lead a little before that. Tim (Ritchie) pulled away from Ruben at about 4 miles, but Ruben was able to catch up to him. It was a kick to the finish."

All five of UMass Lowell's scoring runners placed within the top 30.

Radloff placed third in 24:43 while senior Jason DeDonato (Nashua, NH) took 16th in 25:05. Sophomore Angus MacDonald (Methuen, MA) placed 28th in 25:19 while senior Jack Kilcommons (South Boston, MA) placed 30th in 25:20.

"This year we actually didn't run perfect, with Angus coming off strep throat," Gardner noted. "I believe he could have finished as high as 10th. But we had four guys run extremely well."

Freshman Jeff Veiga (Lowell, MA) placed 96th in 26:12, running the final two miles with a nail in his heel. "He thought he had a pebble in his shoe," Gardner said. "So he ran on his toes."

Freshman Carlos Montrond (Brockton, MA) capped UML's effort as he placed 111th in 26:23.