FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

[Click Here For Full Release]


South Easton, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts Lowell senior runners Christina DaLomba (Marstons Mills, Mass.) and Ruben Sanca (Boston, Mass.) were named the 2008 Northeast-10 Cross Country Athletes of the Year in a vote by the conferences’ head coaches. In addition, teammate Carlos Montrond (Brockton, Mass.) and Stonehill College’s Jill Alves (Whitman, Mass.) were selected the 2008 Freshmen of the Year.

Coach of the Year accolades went out to UMass Lowell’s Gary Gardner as the Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year, while the College of Saint Rose’s Andrew Rickert was honored as the Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year.

DaLomba ran her strongest race of the year at the East Regional, clocking 22:10 on the 6-kilometer course at Boston’s Franklin Park to win by 15 seconds. She placed second at the Northeast-10 Championship and placed 31st out of 301 runners at the New England Championships. At the NCAA Division II Championships, DaLomba placed 107th overall and 86th among scoring runners with a time of 23:52 on the 6k course.

Sanca took home a first-place finish at the Northeast-10 Championship this year after finishing second in 2007 and also won the East Region championship. He won the regional title by more than 30 seconds, clocking 30:30.6 on the 10k course. Sanca placed 45th overall and 37th among scoring runners at this year’s NCAA Division II Championships. He ran the 10k course in 32:22 to help lead the River Hawks to a 13th place team finish.

In his first year running as a collegiate, Montrond was the top freshman runner to finish at the Northeast-10 Championships in which he placed 10th overall in a time of 25:35. His fastest time this year was at the UMass Dartmouth invite where he finished the 8k course in 25:22. Montrond finished 16th overall at the East Region Championship with a time of 32:20 over the 10k course.

Alves put together quite the resume in her first year of collegiate action. She was the top-freshman to finish in both the Northeast-10 Championships as well as the NCAA East Region Championships. At the NE-10’s, Alves finished fourth overall in a time of 18:42 and she completed the 6k course at the East Regional Championships in 23:09. She placed 155th at the NCAA Division II Championships with a time of 24:48 over the 6k course.

Gardner helped guide the River Hawks men's cross country team to first place finishes in this year's NCAA Division II East Regional as well as the 2008 Northeast-10 Championship.
Rickert guided the Golden Knights to a successful 2008 season. Saint Rose had its best finishes ever at this year’s Northeast-10 Championships as the Golden Knights finished third overall and they also recorded highest finish at this year’s East Regional with a fifth place team finish.

With 15 member institutions the Northeast-10 is the second largest NCAA Division II athletic conference in the nation. Its 23 championship sports provide athletic opportunities for over 5,500 student-athletes, the largest such program of any Division II conference.

- NE-10 -