Feb. 22, 2009

Senior Ruben Sanca (Boston, MA) was named the Male Athlete of the Year as the UMass Lowell men's track and field team placed third at the Northeast-10 Conference Championship Saturday at Southern Connecticut's Moore Fieldhouse.

The honor is the latest of a handful for Sanca this season. He was also named both the NE-10 and NCAA East Region Male Athlete of the Year for the cross country season.

Sanca was honored for a magnificent indoor season thus far, which has seen him qualify for the NCAA Championship in three events. He currently vaunts the third-fastest time in the 5,000 meters this season (14:07.26) and the fifth-fastest in the mile (4:08.17).

Additionally, he runs the mile on UMass Lowell's distance medley relay team which is currently ranked fourth on the latest Division II list with a time of 9:58.11.

On Saturday, Sanca ran the mile in 4:24 to lead the distance medley relay team to second place with a time of 10:37.41. Joining him was freshman Danny Wang (Haverhill, MA), who ran the 1,200 meters in 3:16.60; senior Kevin Bettencourt (Chelmsford, MA), who ran the 400 meters in 53.10; and junior Rich Curran (North Attleboro, MA) who ran the 800 meters in 2:02.

UMass Lowell crowned four champions Saturday without the services of sprinters Jeff Wundt (Southwick, MA), Doug Caves (Oxford, MA) and Andrew Grange (Methuen, MA), the top-seeds in the 200, 400 and 500 meters, respectively, who withdrew due to flu symptoms.

The River Hawks compiled 103 points, finishing behind the host/champion Owls (166) and Stonehill (129). American International finished fourth with 77 points while Saint Rose (41), New Haven (40), Bentley (27) and Assumption (6) followed.

Sophomore Cory Murray (Methuen, MA) won the shot put with a distance of 49 feet, 8.5 inches to lead three teammates to individual titles.

Junior Tim Guerin (Auburn, MA) captured the 5,000 meters with a time of 15:08.60 while sophomore Angus MacDonald (Methuen, MA) won the 1,000 meters in 2:30.09, just ahead of senior Joey DeWitt (Ellsworth, ME), who took third in 2:33.25.

Sophomore Donte Brown (Brockton, MA) led UMass Lowell's sprinters as he won the 400 meter dash in 49.20 seconds. Junior Robert Liekweg (Salem, NH) placed fourth in 51.61.

Sophomore Matt Blazon (Lowell, MA) finished third in the 55 meter hurdles.

Other stellar finishes included that of sophomore Sean Gelinas (Northwood, NH), who took third in the mile in 4:25.42; freshman Shaddi Ali (Stoneham, MA), who placed third in the high jump, clearing 6' 4.75''; freshman Sam LeBeau (Auburn, MA) who took fourth in the pole vault (11' 5.75''); and senior Jack Kilcommons (South Boston, MA), who placed fourth in the 3,000 meters (9:03.92).

UMass Lowell enters the New England Championship next Friday and Saturday at Boston University.