Nov. 9, 2008

BOSTON - Senior Ruben Sanca (Boston, MA) captured the individual title and led the UMass Lowell men's cross country team to the NCAA East Region Championship Sunday at Franklin Park.

The East Region title is UMass Lowell's seventh in the last nine years and catapults the River Hawks into the NCAA Championship on Saturday, Nov. 22 at Slippery Rock University.

The individual crown is Sanca's second this season as he also won the individual title at the Northeast-10 Conference Championship on Oct. 25 in Colchester, VT.

Sanca ran the 10K course in 30 minutes, 30.6 seconds - a 4:56-per-mile pace - and bested the remainder of the field by more than 30 seconds.

UMass Lowell Head Coach Gary Gardner was named the Men's East Region Coach of the Year, his fourth honor since taking over the program seven years ago. Gardner was also named the Women's East Region Coach of the Year as the River Hawk women captured the East Region title.

The field included 167 runners representing 24 teams.

UMass Lowell scored 43 points (1, 5, 10, 13, 14) while Stonehill College took second with 54 points and Southern Connecticut third with 64 points.

Adelphi placed fourth with 154 points and was followed by Saint Rose (193), Bentley (194) and Merrimack (218). Felician (239), New York Institute of Technology (253) and Philadelphia University (265) rounded out the top 10.

"Ruben dominated the field," said Gardner. "He is on a different level than he has ever been. He is a completely different athlete. He ran great."

Sanca was won of six UMass Lowell runners on the All-East Region Team, which was made up of the top 15 runners.

"The goal from the beginning of the season was to win the region," Gardner noted. "And out ultimate goal is to finish among the top 10 teams at the NCAA Championship. Hopefully we can accomplish that."

Sophomore Angus MacDonald (Methuen, MA) placed fifth overall in 31:36.4 while junior Jason DeDonato (Nashua, NH) took 10th in 31:59.6. Senior Jack Kilcommons (South Boston, MA), freshman Jeff Veiga (Lowell, MA) and junior Rex Radloff (Dedham, MA) finished in places 13-15.

Kilcommons posted a time of 32:14.9 while Veiga ran the course in 32:16.3 and Radloff in 32:18.6.

Freshman Carlos Montrond (Brockton, MA) fell two seconds shy of All-East Region honors, placing 16th in 32:20.6.

"We had four of seven runners run extremely well today," Gardner said. "Angus, Jeff and Jason stepped up and got it done. Rex is battling a cold, so that certainly hampered his performance."