Stonehill captured both the men’s and women’s titles at the NCAA DII East Region Championships on November 10th at Franklin Park. Here are some quick bits on the day’s races:

The Women

For Stonehill it was just a repeat of past years. The Skyhawks claimed their 5th straight regional title. Led by senior Chelsea Bishop, they out-scored second place Bentley by a 57-105 margin. The fact that they pulled it off despite Bentley taking the top two spots just shows how impressive their depth is. Junior harrier Tara Dooley won it overall and her senior teammate Amy Varsell was right behind her, with the ladies running 21:19 and 21:56, respectively. Bishop was 4th overall.

From a good write up on the Skyhawks website:

Head coach Karen Boen, an 11-time Northeast-10 Women’s Coach of the Year, attributed Stonehill’s success today to her squad’s team-first attitude. “Every year is a different dynamic, a different group of kids. There’s something to be said for kids that are willing to run for a team, not just to run for an individual title, and I think that’s what our women do”, Boen said. “Chelsea Bishop said to me one year that she’s never nervous on the line because there’s such a tough group of women standing beside her, and she knows someone will get it done on that day.” 

The teams that made it to nationals out of the east are:

Stonehill
Bentley
Merrimack

And the individuals are:

Betsy Eickelberg, Adelphi – 3rd in 22:37
Alexandra Stasiuk, American International – 5th in 22:48
Chloe Boutelle, Saint Michael’s – 7th in 22:12

Lastly, here’s some video courtesy of the Adelphi University Panthers XC/Track:

The Men

Although it was only the first regional title for the Stonehill men since ’07, it’s not as if they were wallowing in futility all this time. With the win, they secured their 11th straight national championships appearance. That’s pretty damn impressive.

From a good write up on the Skyhawks website:

Sophomore Robert Massey (Chelmsford, Mass./Chelmsford) led the way for Stonehill today, as he placed eighth overall. Massey was the first Skyhawk to complete the ten kilometer course, doing so in 32:04.8. Senior Stephen Leonard (Chatham, N.J./Chatham), who was Stonehill’s top finisher two weekends ago at the Northeast-10 Championship, placed ninth overall today, clocking in at 32:07. Massey and Leonard were the lone Skyhawks to earn top-10 finishes in today’s meet.

The teams that made it to nationals out of the east are:

Stonehill
Franklin Pierce
Wilmington (Del.)

And the individuals are:

Mike Biwott, American International – 1st in 30:30
Nicholas Filippazzo, Adelphi – 2nd in 31:17
John Chirchir, American International – 3rd in 31:22
Asher Brandt, Southern Connecticut State – 4th in 31:41
Anthony Fiermonte, Assumption – 5th in 31:43

Finally, here’s some more video courtesy of the Adelphi University Panthers XC/Track:

We’d be remiss to not mention how the Adelphi squads did. The men’s and women’s teams both finished 5th with 134 points and 177 points, respectively. As you read above both teams are sending an individual to the big meet. And they did a great job of getting video. Keep up the good work, guys.