Results

ALBANY, N.Y. – Senior Christopher Alfond (Ashby, Mass.) turned in a spectacular run to the finish line to capture the America East Conference men's individual 8k cross country championship, Saturday morning, and lead the River Hawks to a second place finish in the team standings.

"Chris ran a great race and as a team we gave it a shot," said UMass Lowell Cross Country Head Coach Gary Gardner.  "We where we wanted to be with about a mile and a half to go, but as a team we couldn't finish it."

It is the third consecutive year in which a UMass Lowell runner has earned the individual title.  Paul Hogan earned the championship in both 2017 and 2018.  It was the fifth year that the team title became a battle between UMass Lowell and Stony Brook.  The Seawolves have the edge, three championships to two.

The River Hawks accumulated 54-points (1, 8, 9, 16, 20 - 28, 30) to finish second on the team board.  Stony Brook placed five runners in the top seven spots to claim the team title with 22-points (2, 3, 4, 6, 7 - 13, 15).  Vermont finished third with 75-points, New Hampshire was fourth with 95.

Alfond's run to a title was relentless.  When it was over he had obliterated the course record.  

The senior ran in the lead group, with two Stony Brook runners, as the group was slowly whittled down from four to three and then two and finally just Alfond with about 500-meters to go.

"I told Chris 'take a shot when you feel you can finish' and that's what he did," said Gardner.  "He's a grinder and a real good racer."

The Stony Brook runners, Vann Moffett and Cameron Avery, had gone out hard and Alfond and River Hawk junior Benjamin Drezek (Cumberland, R.I.) stayed with them in the early going.  Eventually Drezek fell off the pace, but Alfond stayed right with the Seawolves duo.

"His progress has been phenomenal," according to Gardner.  "He conserved his energy and let them do the work.  They had to break the wind, but Chris was relaxed, saving energy.  He looked comfortable, ran confident and eliminated mistakes."

Alfond, who missed last year's championship on the sidelines with an injury, took over the lead with about 600-meters to go and ran away from his nearest challenger.  He punch the clock at 23-minutes, 38.26-seconds.  He was four seconds ahead of his nearest challenger.

Drezek and junior Derek Holmes turned in strong performances finishing eighth and ninth in the field of 85 runners.  Drezek clocked in at 24:16.46 and Holmes was right behind him posting a time of 24:18.06. Drezek also earned the America East Elite 18 Award for earning the highest GPA of any student-athlete participating in the championship weekend. He boasts a 3.97 GPA majoring in exercise physiology. 

Senior Liam Kimball (Atkinson, N.H.) turned in his strongest run of the year.  Kimball finished 16th with a time of 24:39.62.  Junior Kyle Cloutier (Lancaster, Mass.) was the final River Hawk scorer.  Cloutier recorded a time of 24:44.46, good for 20th place.

Gardner likes the future.  Most of this year's team will be back in 2020.  Stony Brook, too, should be strong next year and the two teams should be expected to go head-to-head yet again.

"This has become a real good rivalry," said Gardner.  "We have a lot of respect for each other.  They have tough kids who race well and we have tough kids who race well.  They've made us better and I think we've made them better."

The America East Championships may be over but the season is not finished.  Next on the docket is the NCAA Northeast Regional in Amherst, N.Y. on November 15th.