GMC Hosts NAC Cross Country Championship
(October 29, 2009) - Poultney, VT - Green Mountain College will host the North Atlantic Conference Championship cross country meet Saturday, October 31st. The men's 8k race is set to begin at 11:00 am followed by the women's 5k at 12:00 pm.
Among the 7 teams represented are last years' men's winners Lyndon St. and the women's champions the University of Maine Farmington. In their 1st season of NAC competition, the Hornets captured the men's crown, accumulating the low team score 33. Me.-Farmington were runner's-up with 54 points while Maine Maritime Academy nabbed 3rd with 55 points. Castleton came in fourth with 79 points, Johnson State was fifth with 129, and Green Mountain rounded out the field with 169 team points.
LSC freshman Craig Johnson (North Kingstown, R.I.) was the top-finisher individually with a time of 29:03 to earn him North Atlantic Conference Runner of the Year as well as NAC Rookie of the Year. The next seven finishers earned themselves NAC First Team recognition and they were: 2nd place - Kel Cenga (Brewster, Mass.), UMF; 3rd Place - Matt Methot (Portland, Maine), MMA; 4th Place - Michael Farmer (Colchester, Vt.), LSC; 5th place - Lucas Miller (Belfast, Maine), MMA; 6th place - Jeremiah Powell (Concord, Vt.), LSC; 7th place - Cam Betts (Gray, Maine), UMF; 8th place - Ty Thurlow (Lee, Maine), UMF.
Lyndon State Head Coach Chris Ummer was named the Men's Coach of the Year by his peers while the Hornets completed a fine day by earning the NAC Sportsmanship Award.
On the women's side, the Farmington Beavers won their fourth NAC Championship in five years by tallying a low score of 25. Castleton were the runner's up with a score of 58 while Lyndon State was third with 72 points, Green Mountain fourth with 96 points, Johnson State fifth with 118 points, and Maine Maritime had an incomplete team.
Lyndon State senior Lyndsey Calkins (Danville, Vt.) earned NAC Runner of the Year honors but besting the field with a time of 18:52. The individual runner-up was Castleton's Maggie Klein (Castleton, Vt.) while third place went to UMF freshman Melani St. Pierre (Charlestown, N.H.) making her the NAC Rookie of the Year award. The rest of the NAC First Team was: 4th Emily Farley (Bernard, Maine), UMF; 5th place - Rachel Sincebaugh (Viera, Fla.), MMA; 6th place - Jocelyn Plog (Avon, Maine), UMF; 7th place - Emily Weston (Rumford, Maine), UMF; 8th place - Rebecca Cunningham (Eliot, Maine), UMF.
LSC's Chris Ummer and Farmington's Ryan Wagner were named NAC co-Coach's of the Year while Castleton garnered the NAC Sportsmanship Award.
The course, on the GMC campus, is flat and fast. The runners start adjacent to the soccer field near the Waldron Athletic Center and wind its way along the Poultney River and throughout campus, finishing near the start line at the soccer field. The women make one complete loop while the men run the course twice. A complete course description and maps for both men and women can be accessed here.
