LOWELL, Mass. – After picking up a men's America East Championship and a women's top-three finish just two weeks ago, the UMass Lowell men's and women's cross country teams are now focused on the NCAA Northeast Regional, hosted by Columbia at Van Cortlandt Park in Bronx, N.Y. on Friday, November 10. The women's 6k race will begin at 11:00 a.m., while the men's 10k is set for a 12:00 p.m. start. The men are currently ranked 11th in the region.

Head Coach Gary Gardner liked what he saw at the America East Championships on October 27, with the men emerging victorious for the fourth consecutive year and the women turning in a third-place finish despite injuries and some bad luck to begin the race. For the men, he hopes they can being the same energy and performance on Friday.

"The men's team performed well at America Easts," said Gardner. "We were pleased with the overall results. Hopefully, we can carry the momentum from that meet to Friday. The depth of our team should help us in a highly competitive meet."

That depth was on full display in Orono at the conference championship race, as five runners finished in the top 10 and eight finished within the top 20 of the men's 8k. Junior Wouter Van Den Akker (Groningen, Netherlands) was the America East Individual Champion, finishing first by over 20 seconds with a time of 24:07.14. He will be looked at to continue that success in the regional 10k. 

"Wouter had an outstanding race at conference," said Gardner. "If he can duplicate that, it should put him in the top 10-12 overall, which would give him a chance to advance to the finals."

The River Hawks are locked in for the NCAA Northeast Regional and are primed to improve upon last year's seventh-place finish.

On the women's side, an unlucky start to the America East 5k and some lingering injuries led to the team having to fight hard for success. The squad did just that, battling the adversity and finishing third overall with 81 points. With two meet-less weeks to get healthier, the women look to improve at the Northeast Regional.

"The women's team had a few women compete really well at the America East Championship," said Gardner. "We had some bad luck with someone falling early in the race and a few others not being completely healthy. It seems we are a bit healthier this week, so hopefully that equals a better overall team performance."

Sophomore Mary-Kate Finn (Nashua, N.H.) helped lead the women's squad at the conference meet, winning the America East Individual Championship by 8.09 seconds with a personal-best 5k time of 17:17.18. 

"Mary-Kate was really impressive at conference, and it was easily the best race she has run," said Gardner. "It would be great to see her in the top 25 and earn All-Region honors." 

Both the men and women will have to compete as a team in order to finish with desirable results on Friday. They have put in the hours of hard work all season to prepare for these moments, and it is now time to get out to the course and execute. Each team has runners that have competed in this meet before, giving them some much-needed experience. 

"We think if we compete well, the men can finish in the top 10 and the women in the top 18," said Gardner. "If we can accomplish that, It'd be a successful day. Many of the student-athletes competing have been to this meet before, so as long as we stay within ourselves, we should be fine."