Dec. 4, 2010
Individual Results | Team Results
Junior Jeff Veiga (Lowell, Mass.) placed third while senior Angus MacDonald (Methuen, Mass.) took 36th to lead UMass Lowell to 13th place at the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championship at Tom Sawyer State Park.
UMass Lowell compiled 346 points (3, 34, 78, 113, 118 - 127, 137) and matched its current national ranking. Adams (Colo.) State won the team title with 57 points (4, 6, 11, 14, 22 - 31, 33) and was followed by Western (Colo.) State, Grand Valley (Mich.) State, Colorado School of Mines (161) and Chico (Calif.) State (181).
"Obviously Angus and Jeff ran really well," said UML Head Coach Gary Gardner. It's been a long season for us. We ran two freshmen and a sophomore who had never ran an NCAA Championship."
Veiga's finish was UMass Lowell's best individual result since 1991 when UMass Lowell captured the NCAA Championship. Veiga earned All-American honors while MacDonald, who placed 34th among scoring runners, was named an All-American for the second straight year.
Veiga and MacDonald, who had been hampered with flu symptoms earlier in the week, are UMass Lowell's sixth and seventh cross country All-Americans of the decade. The top 40 finishers earned All-American status.
Veiga ran the 10K course in 30 minutes, 52.8 seconds - a 4:58 mile pace - and trailed only individual champion Michael Crouch of Queens (N.C.) College, who won the title in 30:43.2; and Meshack Koyaki of Columbus State, who was the runner-up in 30:46.9.
"He actually led for about 6,000 of the 10,000 meters," Gardner noted. "He had ultimate confidence. He was unbelievable. He was never out of the top five. Even when he wasn't leading, he was always there."
"Since, last March, Jeff did a lot of work," Gardner added. "He really dedicated himself to this season. He actually had a part time job that he quit so he could dedicate more time to his training."
Brandon Birdsong of Adams State placed fourth in 31:00.6 while Isaac Chavez of Chico State took fifth in 31:00.8.
The race drew 24 schools and 182 athletes.
MacDonald, who placed 37th overall (26th among scoring runners) last year, ran the course in 31:36.4.
Junior Eric McDonald (Groveland, Mass.) placed 89th overall (78th among scorers) in 32:32.2, down from his place of 109th/92nd last year.
Freshman Andrew Stamatopoulos (Methuen, Mass.) enjoyed a stellar race, placing 127th/113th in 33:39.7 and freshman Chris Estrella (Lowell, Mass.) took 132nd/118th in 33:45.0.
"We hope Andrew is going to be in the class of Jeff and Angus," said Gardner. "He got out a little slow, but ran a real solid race."
Sophomore Brendan Devlin (Weston, Mass.) placed 142nd/127th in 34:05.1 and junior Danny Wang (Haverhill, Mass.) placed 152nd/137th in 34:17.6 to cap UMass Lowell's effort.
In 1991, UMass Lowell captured the NCAA title when junior John Doherty and seniors Mike Chamberas and David Cremin placed second through fourth to score a sterling 48 points.
Former standout Vinnie Fleming won the NCAA individual title in 1975.
