HOPKINTON, N.H. – After picking up a men's America East Championship and a women's top-two finish just two weeks ago, the UMass Lowell men's and women's cross country teams are now focused on the NCAA Northeast Regional, which they will be hosting at Hopkinton Fairgrounds in Hopkinton, N.H. 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 9th 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 fifth consecutive year and the women turning in a second-place finish, improving upon their third-place finish last season.

"I'm looking forward to the NCAA Regional," said Gardner. "We ran well at the conference meet, which is a great springboard into NCAAs."

Running well at the conference meet is an understatement for the River Hawks. The men collected nine finishers within the top 22 runners, with four in the top 10. Senior Wouter Van Den Akker (Groningen, Netherlands) led the way, in the 8k race claiming third place with a 24:02.20 mark just before junior Sean Kennedy-Wonneberger (East Haddam, Conn.) took fourth with a time of 24:09.71. The two earned First Team All-Conference honors for their performance and the squad collected three Second Team All-Conference honorees in senior Will Benoit (Fairhaven, Mass.), graduate student Joe Young (Dorchester, Mass.) and junior Ethan Mashtare (St. Albans, Vt.). Benoit claimed eighth place with a time of 24:32.64 before Young finished right behind him in ninth place with a 24:42.18 mark. Mashtare was not far behind, earning 12^th place with a time of 24:46.42.

For the women, junior Mary-Kate Finn (Nashua, N.H.) shined in the 5k race, winning the America East Individual Championship for the second consecutive year with a time of 17:04.36. Graduate student Mary Yount (Northampton, Mass.) joined Finn on the All-Conference First Team, taking sixth place with a time of 17:38.33. Senior Sarah Ross (Agawam, Mass.) was next to finish for the River Hawks, collecting 13^th-place honors with a time of 17:55.04 for All-Conference Second Team honors. Following the race, Ross (Francis College of Engineering) was also awarded the America East Elite 18 Award for her 4.0 GPA in Plastics Engineering.

Both teams' sights are set on improving upon last year's Regionals, as the men finished in the 12^th place spot and the women claimed 17^th. They also got a chance to compete on this year's course at Hopkinton Fairgrounds earlier this season at the Bruce Kirsch Invitational, so they will aim to use that to their advantage, in addition to being the host school. The squads will have loads of support with the event being so close to home and will go in locked and loaded, ready for battle.

"We trained well and rested the last two weeks," said Gardner. "We should definitely be ready for another good performance."