Oct. 31, 2009

BRYANT MEN'S AND WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY TEAMS COMPETE AT NORTHEAST CONFERENC CHAMPIONSHIPS SATURDAY
Women Place Eighth; Men Tenth

MEN'S TEAM RESULTS / MEN'S RESULTS / WOMEN'S TEAM RESULTS / WOMEN'S RESULTS

HAMDEN, Conn. - The Bryant University men's and women's cross country teams took part in their second Northeast Conference Championships Saturday.  The women placed eighth overall - up one spot from a year ago, while the men placed 10th. 

Standout Deirdre Doyle (Carlow, Ireland) placed seventh overall individually to lead the Bulldogs as the freshman turned in a solid time of 18 minutes, 43 seconds over the 5-kilometer course.  Classmate Megan Robertson (Sewell, N.J.) was next, finishing 24th in 19:45 as the Bulldogs earned 203 total team points to finish ahead of LIU, Fairleigh Dickinson, St. Francis and Wagner. 

Molly Tower took home 61st-place in 21:15 and was followed by Jennifer Denise (68th), Amanda Garber (Brewster, N.Y.)(70th), Kat Ragone (Bourne, Mass.) (71st), Katelyn Arouca (Hanson, Mass.) (83rd) and Katrijn Moulin (Scarborough, Maine) who was 87th.  

The men were led by junior Chris Kelleher (Ellington, Conn.) who was 35th in a time of 27:46 over the 8K course as the Bulldogs garnered 258 points to place ahead of Fairleigh Dickinson and St. Francis.  Ben Coughlin took home 54th-place in 28:16 while sophomore Ryan Busby (Derry, N.H.) was 59th in 28:28.   Rounding out the scoring for Bryant was freshman David Hurley (Ashaway, R.I.) who was 68th followed by Scott Twardowski (Rehoboth, Mass.) (69th), Colin Gannon (Litchfield, Conn.) (81st), Austin Huminski (Oyster Bay, N.Y.) (83rd) and Ken Rayner (Acton, Mass.) in 89th. 

LIU's Rogers Kipruto was the overall winner in 25:55 but Central Connecticut captured the team title with 46 points to finish ahead of host Quinnipiac which was second with 82 points.  The Quinnipiac women took home the women's team title with four top-10 finishers crossing the line as the Bobcats finished well ahead of runner up Sacred Heart.

2009 NEC Championships
@ Hamden, Conn.

MEN
Bryant (10th - 258)
36- Chris Kelleher      27:46
54 - Ben Coughlin       28:16
59 - Ryan Busby         28:25
69 - Scott Twardowski   28:41
81 - Colin Gannon       29:38
83 - Austin Huminski    29:50
89 - Ken Rayner         30:22

WOMEN
Bryant  (8th - 203)

7 - Deirdre Doyle       18:43
24 - Megan Robertson    19:45
61 - Molly Tower        21:15
68 - Jennifer Denise    21:41
70 - Amanda Garber      21:47
71 - Kat Ragone         21:50
83 - Katelyn Arouca     22:34
87 - Katrijn Moulin     22:53