Oct. 11, 2009

Sophomore Angus MacDonald (Methuen, MA) placed eighth overall with a time of 24 minutes, 55 seconds over five miles to lead UMass Lowell to its second straight New England Cross Country Championship Saturday at Franklin Park.

UMass Lowell scored 93 points (8, 9, 16, 29, 31 – 35) and defeated the likes of UMass Amherst (116), Providence (171), the University of New Hampshire (181) and Stonehill (235).

The field drew 320 runners representing 47 Division I, II and III teams.

The championship was also UMass Lowell’s third in the last four years, as it captured last year’s title and the 2006 crown. The River Hawks placed second in 2007.

MacDonald led five UMass Lowell runners in the top 31 places, separated by only 31 seconds.

“I told the guys that everyone is going to be in the hunt after 5K, but it is the final 3K that matters,” said UML head coach Gary Gardner. “This was a matter of all six of our guys running very well on the same day.”

Senior Tim Guerin (Auburn, MA) placed ninth overall in 24:58 while sophomore Jeff Veiga (Lowell, MA) placed 16th in 25:08. Junior Greg Wilson (Chelmsford, MA) placed 29th in 25:24 while senior Steve O’Brien (Groton, MA) rounded out UMass Lowell’s scoring runners in 31st in 25:26.

Sophomore Danny Wang (Haverhill, MA) placed 35th overall in 25:30 to cap UMass Lowell’s effort.

“Between our runners 1-6, the gap was only 34 seconds,” Gardner noted. “I think all of them (earned personal-best times) by about 30 seconds. This was our first big test of the year and we passed it.”

Glarius Rop of American International College was the individual title with a time of 24:22.

UMass Lowell enters the Plansky Invitational Saturday at Williams College.