EASTON, MA (Oct. 21, 2007) – Graduate student Stephen DeWitt (Ellsworth, ME) was named the Athlete of the Year as he placed first and led the UMass Lowell men’s cross country team to a share of the Northeast-10 Conference Championship Sunday at Stonehill College.

The River Hawks, who scored 35 points (1, 2, 4, 13, 15 – 16, 19), shared the title with the host Skyhawks, who also scored 35 points (3, 5, 6, 10, 11 – 14, 31). Southern Connecticut (82) placed third and was followed by Bentley (134), Bryant (171) and Le Moyne (192).

The share of the championship marked the fifth time in the last eight years UML has won the title, including the second straight year.

A staggering nine River Hawks – the most of any school, and the most in UML’s eight-year history in the NE-10 – were named to the NE-10 All-Star teams. At the 2005 championship, seven UML runners earned NE-10 all-conference honors.

Head Coach Gary Gardner (North Attleboro, MA), in his sixth season, was named the NE-10 Men’s Coach of the Year for the second straight year and third time in the last five years.

DeWitt, the third UML runner to earn athlete of the year honors in the last four years, ran the five-mile course in 25 minutes, 7.07 seconds and was one of three River Hawks in the top four places. Junior Ruben Sanca (Boston, MA) placed second in 25:21.7 while senior Joey DeWitt (Ellsworth, ME) took fourth in 25:28.7.

For Sanca and Joey DeWitt, the race marked the third straight year in which they earned all-conference status.

“This was a great team effort today, one I hope that continues for the remaining few weeks of the season,” said Gardner. “We were without Angus (MacDonald, freshman), who is our No. 4 runner, so I think we showed a lot of depth today.”

MacDonald skipped the race due to flu-like symptoms but is expected to run at the NCAA Northeast Regional Nov. 3 at Van Cortlandt Park in Riverdale, NY.

Stephen and Joey DeWitt and Sanca were each named to the NE-10 All-Conference First Team while junior Mark Garcia (Everett, MA), who took 13th in 26:15.0, was the sole UML runner on the Second Team.

Freshman Jose DePina (Brockton, MA) led five UML runners on the Third Team as he ran the course in 26:18.1 to place 15th and cap UML’s scoring.

Sophomore Tim Guerin (Auburn, MA) placed 16th in 26:19.0 while junior Jack Kilcommons (South Boston, MA) placed 19th in 26:30.3; sophomore Matias Carrasco (Brookline, MA) 20th in 26:35.0; and junior Jason DeDonato (Nashua, NH) 21st in 26:36.8.

The all-conference honors were the second straight for Garcia and DeDonato, who were each cited last year.

Stephen DeWitt joined Carl Mease (2004) and Patrick Morasse (2005) as UML runners to be named NE-10 Athlete of the Year.