EMERSON, JWU TAKE TOP SPOTS AT CROSS COUNTRY GNACS - EMMANUEL OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE

Rivier College hosted the 2009 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's and women's cross country championships on a beautiful 60 degree Halloween afternoon.

	Stephanie Gomes and Joslyn DelSignore

Oct. 31, 2009

NASHUA, N.H. - Rivier College hosted the 2009 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's and women's cross country championships on a beautiful 60 degree Halloween afternoon. Twelve GNAC teams gathered on Rivier's campus for the women's 5k and the men's 8k races. Emerson took the team championship for the women and Johnson & Wales finished with first place on the men's side.

The women's race got started at 11:00 a.m. with 88 total runners in the starting box. All but two were able finish the race, with Emerson's Caprice Cappucci taking the top spot with a time of 20:52.04. Emerson crossed three runners in the top five to help take home the 2009 team title with a total of 48 points. Johnson and Wales took second with 56 points and Emmanuel College finished third with 96 team points.

Sophomore Brittany Sorice led the Saints with her 11th place finish in time of 22:17.44. Freshman Joslyn DelSignore was second for Emmanuel with a 22:24.66 time. Sophomore Marissa LaFlamme and junior Meredith Martelli placed 3rd and 4th for the Saints and sophomore Stephanie Gomes rounded out the scoring for Emmanuel.

Emerson's Caprice Cappucci earned the GNAC Runner of the Year for taking the top spot as well as the GNAC Rookie of the Year for being the top freshman.

On the Men's side, 81 runners began the race with all but two finishing. Johnson & Wales University freshman Greg Redfield won the individual race with a time of 27:14.81. The win also gave Redfield the GNAC Runner and Rookie of the year awards. Johnson & Wales placed runners in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd positions on their way to their second straight GNAC Championship. The Wildcats scored a total of just 17 points. Norwich University came in second with 80 points followed by Emerson with 80 points. Norwich took the tie breaker with their 6th runner finishing one minute ahead of Emerson's 6th runner.

Emmanuel placed fourth as a team and was paced by sophomore Stephen Armstrong's 29:07.89 time. Armstrong ran 10th overall and garnered All-Conference honors for his top-ten finish. Sophomore Wesley Cowles finished just behind Armstrong in the 11th spot with a time of 29:14.73. Freshman Alen Smajic ran third for the Saints with a time of 29:40.08 Sophomore Maurizio Turco scored fourth for Emmanuel, running a 30:20.21 8K. Junior Ben Cleveland rounded out the scoring for the Saints with his persona;l best time of 30:46.99.

Team Results - Women

1 Emerson College 48 1 2 5 17 23 26 38

Total Time: 1:49:31.21

Average: 21:54.25

2 Johnson & Wales University 56 3 8 9 15 21 40

Total Time: 1:50:58.90

Average: 22:11.78


3 Emmanuel College 96 11 13 20 24 28 30 34

Total Time: 1:54:51.09

Average: 22:58.22

4 St. Joseph's College (Me) 101 6 14 18 31 32 41 46

Total Time: 1:56:08.50

Average: 23:13.70

5 Lasell College 127 12 19 27 33 36 37 55

Total Time: 1:58:20.30

Average: 23:40.06

6 Norwich University 130 4 16 29 39 42 44 50

Total Time: 1:58:56.58

Average: 23:47.32

7 St. Joseph College (Ct) 204 7 43 47 53 54 62 63

Total Time: 2:12:53.92

Average: 26:34.79

8 Rivier College 213 22 35 48 51 57 59

Total Time: 2:14:33.42

Average: 26:54.69

9 Albertus Magnus College 229 10 45 56 58 60 61

Total Time: 2:24:23.03

Average: 28:52.61

10 Mount Ida College 255 25 49 52 64 65

Total Time: 2:34:02.05

Average: 30:48.41

2009 GNAC Women's All Conference Team

1 Cappucci, Caprice FR Emerson College 20:52.04 1

2 Viglienzoni, Cat JR Emerson College 20:53.30 2

3 Wessman, Alexandra SR Johnson & Wales 21:09.42 3

4 Clark, Mallory FR Norwich University 21:40.27 4

5 Filek-Gibson, Dana GR Emerson College 21:43.24 5

6 Murphy, Katie JR St. Joseph's (Me 21:55.87 6

7 Debella, Ashley SR St. Joseph (Ct) 22:03.37 7

8 Panny, Lindsay SO Johnson & Wales 22:07.67 8

9 Charbonneau, Amanda SR Johnson & Wales 22:08.13 9

10 Darin, Alisha SO Albertus 22:13.61 10

Team Results - Men

1 Johnson & Wales University 17 1 2 3 5 6 9 14

Total Time: 2:20:01.86

Average: 28:00.37

2 Norwich University 80 8 15 17 18 22 26 32

Total Time: 2:28:33.82

Average: 29:42.77

3 Emerson College 80 4 7 13 25 31 34 39

Total Time: 2:29:21.16

Average: 29:52.24

4 Emmanuel College 82 10 11 16 21 24 35 46

Total Time: 2:29:09.90

Average: 29:49.98

5 Lasell College 123 19 20 27 28 29 30 33

Total Time: 2:33:26.90

Average: 30:41.38


6 St. Joseph's College (Me) 165 12 36 37 38 42 44 49

Total Time: 2:45:40.53

Average: 33:08.11

7 Suffolk University 192 23 40 41 43 45 47 48

Total Time: 2:51:29.17

Average: 34:17.84

8 Rivier College 265 50 51 52 53 59 60 61

Total Time: 3:46:35.12

Average: 45:19.03

9 Albertus Magnus College 280 54 55 56 57 58

Total Time: 4:13:04.39

Average: 50:36.88

2009 GNAC Men's All Conference Team

1 Redfield, Greg FR Johnson & Wales 27:14.81 1

2 Vance, James SO Johnson & Wales 27:24.41 2

3 Smith, Nathan SO Johnson & Wales 28:14.56 3

4 Oppenheimer, Kyle FR Emerson College 28:24.49 4

5 Hartman, Jeff FR Johnson & Wales 28:30.33 5

6 Reiss, Kyle SO Johnson & Wales 28:37.74 6

7 Fox, Brandon SO Emerson College 28:51.21 7

8 Pomeroy, John SR Norwich University 28:54.33 8

9 Guenard, Ron SR Johnson & Wales 29:03.69 9

10 Armstrong, Stephen SO Emmanuel College 29:07.89 10