Live Results | Regional Website 

HOPKINTON, N.H. – Just two weeks ago, the UMass Lowell cross country team competed in the 2025 America East Championship at Hopkinton State Fairgrounds in Hopkinton, New Hampshire. They found much success on the men's side, claiming their sixth conference title in a row, before sophomore Georgia Brooks (Groton, Mass.) led the women to a fifth-place finish with her fifth-place individual performance.

Both teams will now return to Hopkinton State Fairgrounds for the NCAA Northeast Regional on Friday, looking to see how they stack up against some of the top competition in the region. The women will kick it off with their 6k race at 11:00 a.m., while the men will follow them up with the 10k at 12:00 p.m. Currently, the men rank eighth in the region.

After claiming the top three spots and finishing with five runners in the top 10, the men concluded the America East Championship race with just 24 points, beating out second-place finisher, Binghamton, by 14. It was graduate student Jan Wouter van den Akker (Groningen, Netherlands) that led the way and zoomed to his second career individual conference title with a 23:47.5 mark, while senior Sean Kennedy-Wonneberger (East Haddam, Conn.) was just behind him in second place, earning a time of 24:06.20. Redshirt freshman Devin Moreau (Tyngsboro, Mass.) crossed the finish line in third place to secure an all-River Hawk top three, speeding to a personal-best time of 24:09.8. All three runners earned All-Conference First Team honors for their performances and in addition, Moreau was named Rookie of the Year.

The squad also collected two Second Team All-Conference runners in freshman Will Conklin (Danvers, Mass.) and graduate student Nate DeAngelo (Bristol, Conn.). Conklin impressed with an eighth-place performance in his first conference race, just narrowly missing out on First Team All-Conference honors with his personal-best 24:37.4 mark. DeAngelo was not far behind, taking 10^th place and adding his own personal-best time of 24:42.18. DeAngelo was also named the Elite 18 Award winner for holding the highest GPA of any All-Conference runner.  

Head Coach Gary Gardner was extremely impressed with the teams' performances at the conference meet, especially the men, who continue to make history year after year. But with that in the rearview, Gardner and the teams have their sights set on the regional races and beyond.

"We are looking forward to this weekend," said Gardner. "Our men's team performed well at the conference meet, so we are looking forward to carrying that momentum into this weekend. I'm so impressed how well Devin and Will have handled their first year of college competition and Wouter and Kennedy-Wonneberger should be right in the mix for the top 12 overall, which will give them a chance to advance to the NCAA finals."

For the women, Brooks really shined in the 5k race at the America East Championship, becoming the lone All-Conference River Hawk and finishing in fifth place to qualify for the First Team. Her time of 17:41.1 marked her career-best, just two weeks after hitting her personal-best 6k time (21:35.4) at the Princeton Fall Classic just two weeks prior.

"Georgia had the best race of her season two weeks ago and has looked even better the last two weeks in training," said Gardner. "So, it will be great to see what she can do.

Graduate student Delaney Swanson (Swanzey, N.H.) was the next UMass Lowell finisher, claiming 22^nd place with a personal-best time of 18:30.74, before freshman Anna Fondakowski (18:43.80) and graduate student Sarah Ross (Agawam, Mass.) (18:45.26) crossed in 32^nd and 34^th place, respectively. Freshman Gracie Richard (Weymouth, Mass) (40^th, 18:50.67), senior Miana Caraballo (Methuen, Mass.) (42^nd, 18:54.52), sophomore Salma Boukhtam (Quincy, Mass.) (50^th, 19:07.60), sophomore Lauren Long (Lunenburg, Mass.) (51^st, 19:11.11), senior Mia Jones (Blacksburg, Va.) (56^th, 19:20.42) and freshman Krista Bettez (Gardner, Mass.) (66^th, 19:55.87) all competed in the race as well for the River Hawks and will join the other women looking to improve upon their times this weekend at the same course.

"Sarah is getting healthier which should help our team a bunch," added Gardner. "Our women's team will be running two sophomores and two freshmen. I think they are ready to go and will also help us in the future."

Last season, the men finished eighth at the NCAA Northeast Regional after coming into the event ranked ninth in the region. This weekend, they will look to continue the trend of placing higher than their ranking and advance runners to the NCAA Championship, while the women seek to build upon last year's 19^th-place showing. Hopkinton State Fairgrounds is familiar territory for the River Hawks after competing here just two weeks ago for the America East Championship, as well as hosting last year's Northeast Regional at the course. Many teammates and fans will be cheering them on, as they hope to use their proximity and familiarity of the course to their advantage.