River Hawks pace Indiana
Senior Steve O’Brien and the rest of the River Hawks cross country and track and field teams are looking forward to Indiana for the NCAA Championship held at Southern Indiana University on Nov. 21.
“Nationals in Indiana should be a very exciting and intense experience,” said O’Brien. “A lot of fans make it out there from a variety of teams and its very nerve racking as well.”
For the team, the trip to Indiana is the biggest meet of the season. After the men’s cross country team placed first and the women’s team placed second in the East Regional Championship last week they earned a spot in the NCAA Championship.
The men’s team was able to win the East Regional by having all seven runners finish in the top 17 spots. The men were led by a third place finish from Angus MacDonald. The team has won seven East Regional Championships in the past nine years.
This was following a runner-up finish at the Northeast-10 Championship where UMass Lowell finished only behind Stonehill.
“Losing the Conference meet was disappointing in the sense that we got second, but Stonehill College ran a very solid race and we just didn’t have the legs on that day,” said O’Brien.
The men’s team was able to win its second straight East regional despite losing Ruben Sanca due to graduation and Rex Radloff who did not return to the team this season. O’Brien said it was pretty clear that they had a lot of work to do if they were going to amount to the expectations of previous seasons.
The women followed up their runner-up finish in the Northeast-10 tournament with a second place finish at the East Regional. Lyra Clark led the team with a seventh place finish overall. The women’s team placed three runners in the top 15 and was only behind Stonehill College. This will be their seventh consecutive trip to the NCAA Championship.
To get ready for the NCAA Championship, Coach Gary Gardner just wants everyone to stay healthy and get prepared mentally for the meet.
“Everyone wants to run well. Over the course of the season, the team has showed great depth, and strength,” O’Brien said. “Coach was very happy and proud of our effort and was impressed with our overall strength.”
Both men’s and women’s teams look to keep up that strength and effort on Nov. 21, and be able to bring the Cross Country Championships to Lowell.
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