UMass Dartmouth cross country teams built on past success to meet new season's goals

(Dartmouth, MA) -- The UMass Dartmouth men's cross country team continued to make progress toward regaining their accustomed spot near the top of the Little East Conference, the New England Alliance and New England's Division III region. On the women's side, following a season, which saw the Corsairs perform beyond its initial expectations, the 2000 squad aimed to take the momentum and carry the team to even greater levels of success. Men's season review

Though top cross country runner Jeff Reed (Westport, MA) took a semester off from competition due to a conflicting academic schedule, senior captain Pat Gallagher (Fairhaven, MA) combined with a potent trio of runners to post the best cross country season UMass Dartmouth has had in the last four years. Sophomore Jeremy Nute (Westborough, MA), along with newcomers sophomore Corey Bachand (Norton, MA) and first-year runner Ahmed Sharifnoor (East Boston, MA) took turns leading the Corsairs at various events throughout the season.

Nute opened the season with a first-place finish at the rugged Amherst Invitational, and finished off the year by finishing first for the Corsairs again at the NCAA Division III Regional championships held at UMass Dartmouth. In between, Bachand led the men's squad at the Trinity Invitational in Hartford, CT. Sharifnoor took over the #1 duties at the 40-team Westfield State Invitational and the New England Alliance/Little East Conference meet, where the Corsairs finished a very improved third place in the 14-team field. A high point for UMass Dartmouth was Sharifnoor's individual victory and the team's first-place finish in the Rhode Island College Invitational in late September.

Besides Gallagher, several new Corsairs took turns at rounding out the top five. First year runners Ryan Hunt (Pembroke, MA), Charlie Hartnett (MA) and Jay Cunha (Fairhaven, MA), along with sophomore Pat Joyce (Weymouth, MA), each stepped in at various times to ensure the Corsairs' success.

The year 2000 saw great improvement from a very young team. Rival coaches have noticed the rise of the Corsairs, and with Reed returning next year, along with no one lost to graduation, a top 10 finish in New England is a definite possibility. And an outside shot at qualifying for the NCAA championships is a possibility as well.

Women's season review

The top spot in both the Little East Conference and the Alliance Championships were the goal for the 2000 season and the Corsairs' women fell only one place short. UMass Dartmouth succeeded in defeating last year's champion, Southern Maine, but lost the top spot to Keene State College

The Corsairs' strong second-place conference finish almost didn't take place, as the injury bug struck UMass Dartmouth almost before the season got started. A knee injury to number one runner junior Shelly Kenyon (Fall River, MA) and an infection which sidelined first-year runner Claire Decker (Middletown, RI) left the team without two of its top five runners before the second meet of the season.

Senior captain Jackie Gorski (Warwick, RI), sophomore Kelly O'Driscoll (Fall River, MA River) and top first-year runner Carolyn Conroy (Westport, MA), shared leadership duties. With Conroy quickly moving to the front of the pack, the Corsairs had a new leader to compensate for Kenyon's absence. In just her first season of collegiate running, Conroy's 19:30 effort in the NCAA Regionals, held for the second straight year at UMass Dartmouth, landed her on the UMass Dartmouth top 20 list of all-time performers on the Corsairs' home course.

With Conroy (4th), Gorski (10th) and O'Driscoll (12th) at the conference championship, sophomores Randi Sullivan (Seekonk, MA), and Sarah Margarida (Westport, MA) filled UMass Dartmouth's top five. Through the course of the season senior Beth Figueiredo (Fall River, MA) and first-year runner Nina Santos (Westport) also filled the top five.

Even though not at full strength, UMass Dartmouth ran well enough to place in the top half of the 45 schools competing in the NCAA New England Regionals held on the UMass Dartmouth campus in November to close out the season. The foundation would seem to be there for continued improvement in 2001.