by Jim Mullins
Assistant Director
Sports Information
November 13, 1999

Keene State Men and Middlebury Women Capture NCAA Div.III New England Cross Country Regionals

(Dartmouth, MA) - The Keene State College men and Middlebury College's women captured first place in the team competition at the NCAA Division III New England Cross Country Regional Championships held Saturday on the campus of UMass Dartmouth.

Brandeis University senior Samson Yohannes was the men's individual winner with a time of 24:17.68 over the 8,040-meter (5-mile) course at UMass Dartmouth. Penny Osborn, a senior at the University of Southern Maine, was the women's individual winner with a time of 17:23.90 on the 5,000-meter (3.1-mile) course.

From a field of 43 women's team in the New England regional, the top three women's teams earned a berth in the NCAA Division III National Cross Country Championships to be held next Saturday at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. In addition to New England Regional champion Middlebury College with 69 points, Williams College placed second with 72 points, while Tufts University had a strong third-place showing with 131 points.

In the men's team competition, the top five men's squads from the field of 39 teams advanced to the national championships next weekend. Keene State College's 59 points earned first place followed by Tufts University in second with 102 points and Williams College was third with 114 points. Bates College took fourth with 199 points and Massachusetts Institute of Technology placed fifth with 131 points.

Ten seconds was all that separated the top five finishers in the women's individual competition. Trailing Osborne, the women's overall winner were Barbara Swallow, a junior from Springfield College (17:28.20) in second and senior Sara Toland of Colby College (17:32.40) in third. Fourth place went to Amherst College sophomore Katie Scangos (17:33.00) and Tufts University senior Cynthia Manning (17:33.00) finished fifth.

Samson Yohannes captured first place in the men's competition by a five-second margin with a time of 24:17.68. Bates College senior Michael Danahy was second at 24:22.72. A pair of Keene State Owls took third and fourth respectively as senior Scott Jensen was third at 24:29.02 and junior Wilson Perez was fourth at 24:32.95. Bates College senior Matt Tweist finished fifth at 24:38.23.

UMass Dartmouth's women's team finished 25th overall with 781 points. Senior Sonya Hinman (Framingham, MA) was the Corsairs' top woman's runner, placing 136th in a field of 256 runners with a time of 20:41. Junior Jeff Reed (Westport, MA) was the UMass Dartmouth men's top runner, taking 100th place overall from a field of 218 runners at 27:02.16. The Corsairs' men's team placed 21st overall with 611 points.

Compete results for the men's and women's individual and team competitions can be found at the UMass Dartmouth World Wide Web site at http://www.umassd.edu/sports/menscrosscountry/99/ncaa.cfm.