BOSTON, MA (Oct. 6, 2007) – Junior Ruben Sanca (Boston, MA) placed fourth overall while graduate student Stephen DeWitt (Ellsworth, ME) took seventh to lead the UMass Lowell men’s cross country to second place at the New England Championship Saturday at Franklin Park.

The River Hawks, who became the first Division II or III school to win the New England title last season, scored 123 points (4, 7, 12, 49, 51) and finished second only to Brown, which captured the championship with 95 points (3, 8, 16, 20, 48).

UML’s result marked the third straight year it finished first among Division II and III colleges.

UML edged out the likes of UMass (124), which placed third by a point while Boston College (132) took fourth, Williams (166) fifth and Stonehill (235) sixth.

The University of New Hampshire placed seventh with 252 points and was followed by Amherst College (283), Boston University (284) and Quinnipiac (129).

The field included 43 schools and 293 runners.

Sanca was the top finisher among Division II and III runners for the second straight year as he ran the five-mile course in 24:59 and finished behind Patrick Mellea (24:45) and Tim Ritchie (24:53) of Boston College; and Christian Escareno (24:53) of Brown.

UML was also lifted by Stephen DeWitt, who posted a time of 25:20, and senior Joey DeWitt (Ellsworth, ME), who placed 12th in 25:31.

Junior Jason DeDonato (Nashua, NH) placed 50th overall and 49th among scoring runners in 26:11 while freshman Angus MacDonald (Methuen, MA) completed the scoring in 52nd/51st in 26:14.

Sophomore Tim Guerin (Auburn, MA) placed 123rd in 27:11 and junior Mark Garcia (Everett, MA) 195th in 28:24 to close out the UML contingent.

The River Hawks enter the Williams Plansky Invitational next Saturday.