BRONX, N.Y. - The Monmouth University women's cross country team ended its season with a record-setting day, finishing second of 24 schools at the ECAC Division I Championships at Van Cortlandt Park, the Hawks' best finish at the event in program history. Monmouth's men finished 9th of 24 schools at the 102nd IC4A Championships, its best finish since taking sixth in 2006.
The women's squad tallied 99 points in the University Race, 50 points behind first place winner Albany. Towson recorded a third place finish with 104 points, followed by St. John's and Marist which finished with 104 points and 161 points, respectfully. Binghamton followed in sixth with 209 points which finished 10 points ahead of Northeast Conference foe Sacred Heart who placed seventh with 219 points. Bucknell (281), Pittsburgh (288) and Fordham (307) rounded out the top ten.
Monmouth's previous best finish at ECACs was sixth in 2000, the same year the Hawks won the NEC Championships.
"This was a great way to end a tremendous season for the women," said head coach Joe Compagni. "They worked together very well and raced hard to put up big finishes in all three of our championships meets, a very difficult feat."
Graduate student Christina Nelson (Barnegat, N.J./Barnegat [Maryland]) rewrote the Monmouth record books, crossing the finish line in sixth place with a time of 18:29.4, breaking Cailin Lynams' course record of 18:31 set in 2007. Junior Jen Nelson (Little Silver, N.J./Red Bank) finished ninth overall in 18:33.0 while sophomore Kelsey Maher (Jackson, N.J./Jackson Memorial) registered a 13th place finish, with a time of 18:44.0. All three athletes received all All-East honors for their efforts. The Hawks' top trio was followed closely by senior captains Christine Altland (Hazlet, N.J./Raritan) and Courtney Spratford (Califon, N.J./Vorhees) who finished in 19:10 and 19:22, good for 30th and 41st, respectfully. Monmouth's top five registered an average of 18:51.8, the best in school history by over 40 seconds on Van Cortlandt Parks's rolling 5K course. Rounding out the top seven for the Hawks were sophomore Amanda Eller (Delmont, N.J./Millville), who finished in 50th with posting a time of 19:34.4 and freshman Lucia Montefusco (Levittown, N.Y./MacArthur) who completed the course in 19:54.4, good for 70th overall.
The men's squad was led by senior Ben Hutterer (Saxonburg, Pa./Knoch), who earned his second All-East finish in four years at this meet with a 19th place finish. The Hawks' co-captain ran 26:23.2 on the challenging five-mile layout at Van Cortlandt. Combined with the women's honors, Hutterer's All-East accolade is the program's 22nd honor in cross country in the last ten years.
Junior Dan Collura (Jackson, N.J./Jackson Memorial) closed out his career-best season by finishing second for Monmouth, 35th overall with a time of 26:42.2. Co-captain Billy Dowd (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peter's) crossed the finish line 48th overall with a time of 26:59.7 followed by classmates, Garth DeBlasio (Millstone, N.J. (Allentown) and Mike Bertocchi (Morris Plains, N.J./Parsippany Hills) who finished in 27:06.6 and 27:09.5, good for 59th and 62nd, respectfully. Sophomore Bobby Hoffman (Holmdel, N.J./Holmdel) recorded a 76th place finish in 27:22.9 and junior Ryan Mulligan (Hazlet, N.J./Raritan) recorded his best effort at Van Cortlandt with a 85th place finish with a time of 27:33 to round out MU's top seve. Monmouth's top five averaged of 26:52, the fifth best average in school history at the Bronx based course.
"This was a big field with the top ten schools bunched fairly close together," said Compagni. "The men put together a strong effort today to get into the top ten and end the season on a positive note for sure."
Temple led the pack in the IC4A University Race posting 111 points, four behind Connecticut which finished second. Fordham, which registered 130 points, edged Colgate by two points for a third place finish. Binghamton compiled 137 points for a fifth place result was followed by Rutgers and Sacred Heart which recorded 188 points and 194 points, respectfully. Pittsburgh finished 13 points ahead of the Hawks with 206 points while Fairfield rounded out the top ten with 243 points.
