Oct. 28, 2006
Results
HAMILTON, N.Y. - Navy men's cross country junior runner John Kress (Colorado Springs, Colo.) placed sixth to earn first-team all-league honors and lead the Midshipmen to a second-place showing at the Patriot League Championship in Hamilton, N.Y., on Saturday morning.
Winds gusting over 25 miles per hour and nearly an inch of rain that fell before the championship made the hilly Harry Lang Course difficult for the competitors on Saturday, as much of the race was run in mud-covered trails.
Preseason league favorite American recorded its fifth-consecutive Patriot League title with a team score of 25 points. Navy came in second with 69 points, followed by Bucknell, Army, Lehigh, Colgate, Lafayette and Holy Cross.
The Midshipmen have finished second at three of the four Patriot League Championships they have raced in since joining the league in 2003. Navy placed second in 2003 and '04 before posting a third-place finish at last year's league championship.
Navy had all scoring-five runners place among the top-20 finishers and was the first school to have its scoring and displacing scoring competitors cross the finish line.
Kress headed that group and posted the team's fastest time for the second-straight race and fourth time in 2006 with a 25:57.3 clocking for sixth-place. The junior has placed among the top-10 runners in four races this year. Last year, the product of Colorado Springs, Colo., raced to a 22nd-place finish at the league championship.
Classmate John Olsen (Staten Island, N.Y.) earned Second-Team All-Patriot League honors with his 11th-place time of 26:30.3. Olsen has finished among Navy's top-two runners in each of his six races this season. The junior has ranked among the top-15 runners in back-to-back meets and four times on the year.
Senior Michael Niemi (Duluth, Minn.) placed 14th with his 26:39.3 clocking to make it to the second-team all-league on Saturday. Niemi has scored in all six of his races this year, including four top-15 performances.
Freshman Chris Horel (Belford, N.J.) brought home Patriot League Outstanding Rookie of the Year honors by being the first freshman to cross the finish line, placing 18th overall with a 26:54.1 showing. Horel has placed among the team's scoring-five six times during his rookie campaign.
Sophomore Andrew Grant (Athens, Ga.) completed the scoring-five with a 20th-place time of 26:58.3. Junior Ben Kozy (Houston, Texas) immediately followed with a 26:59.1 clocking to place 21st and junior Lucas Burke (Bakersfield, Calif.) rounded out Navy's displacing scorers with his 23rd-place effort of 27:13.1.
Navy next competes on Saturday, Nov. 11, traveling to Lock Haven, Pa., for the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional. Race time is slated for 11 a.m.
