Nov. 1, 2008
Results
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Navy men's cross country runner Andrew Hanko (So./Montville, N.J.) delivered the second-fastest time of the day as the Midshipmen tied for the Patriot League Championship at Lehigh's Cross Country Course on Saturday afternoon.
Navy tied Army with a championship-low score of 47 points, marking the first tie in Patriot League Men's Cross Country Championship history. Host Lehigh placed third with 77 points, followed by American's 86 points, Bucknell's 122 points, Holy Cross's 169 points, Colgate's 177 points and Lafayette's 245 points.
Army had its top-five runners land among the overall top-16 times for its 47 points, while Navy was still awaiting its fifth competitor to cross the finish line after producing 26 points through its first-four runners. To compound the issue, Army's Bryce Livingston pushed up Navy's score by placing 19th and Colgate's Edward Sheridan placed 20th. Needing to have a runner complete the meet with the next placing in order to share this year's league title, rookie Jeremy Haney (Fr./Palmyra, Va.) rose to the occasion and finished 21st with a 25:28.8 clocking. For his efforts, Haney was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Year.
"We knew coming in that we were only good to be as good as our fifth man," stated Navy head coach Al Cantello, this year's Patriot League Coach of the Year. "Our top-four runners did their job and we had our fifth guy become the third rookie of the year in as many seasons. The team really responded well after the Star Meet two weeks ago."
Hanko, last year's Patriot League Rookie of the Year, completed the 8k course in 24:37.0 to earn first-team all-league honors. He finished 17.6 seconds behind individual champion Jon Anderson from Army, who advanced to last year's NCAA Championship.
Team captain Bill Prom (Sr./New Berlin, Wis.) claimed First-Team All-Patriot League distinction with his seventh-place time of 25:05.0. Matthew De Villers (So./Menomonee Falls, Wis.) landed eighth overall with his 25:11.4 showing, soon followed by Andrew Grant's (Sr./Athens, Ga.) ninth-place time of 25:11.5. Both De Villers and Grant earned second-team all-league status with their finishes on Saturday.
Rookies Dominic DellaPelle (Fr./Kennett Square, Pa.) and Ken Bunnell (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) completed Navy's scoring seven. DellaPelle finished 22nd with his 25:29.4 clocking and Bunnell followed in 23rd place with a time of 25:30.5.
The Midshipmen will return to action next Saturday when they head to the Princeton Cross Country Course for the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Region Championship.
