FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Saturday, September 9, 2006

BRONX, N.Y. - Taking part in the second event of the season, the Monmouth University men's and women's cross country squads traveled to VanCortland Park to compete in the Fordham Invitational. Led by senior Malia Lyles (Collingswood, N.J./Cherokee), the women's team finished in sixth place as they men took 14th.

Lyles paced the Hawks with a 27th place finish with a time of 20:28.5 to help Monmouth total 182 points on the afternoon, only 23 points behind fifth place Harvard, as Penn took first place with 37 points.

Sophomore Jessica Jones (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./Dallas) crossed the line in 20:49 for 39th place and three other Hawks finished the event in under 22:00, including Cailin Lynam (Sparta/N.J./Sparta) [46th place - 20:59], Rachel Ruggiano (Barnegat, N.J./Southern Regional) [47th place - 21:00] and Corinne LaChac (Sparta, N.J./Sparta) [54th place - 21:18].

Juniors Dustin Coleman (East Greenwich, R.I./Bishop Hendrickson) and Matt Caporaso (Matawan, N.J./Old Bridge) paced the men's side, which totaled 358 points, only seven points behind 13th place Fairleigh Dickinson, as the Hawks sent only five runners to the event. Navy took first with 36 points.

Coleman crossed the finish line in 27:37 for 36th place, while Caporaso came in 38th with a time of 27:41.

Monmouth returns to action on Friday, September 15 as they will host the Monmouth Invitational at Holmdel Park at 4:15 p.m.