For Immediate Release — Monday, November 21, 2005
Contact:
George J. Gagnier
Sports Information Director
Department of Athletics & Recreation
(585) 245-5346
SUNY Geneseo Women's Cross-Country Team Wins NCAA
Division III Championships
GENESEO, N.Y. — The State University of New York at
Geneseo women's cross-country team lived up to this week's national No. 1
ranking by becoming the college's first-ever national championship team by scoring
88 points to runner-up Williams (Mass.) College's 107 at the NCAA Division III
Cross Country championships Saturday afternoon in Delaware, Ohio.
First-year student Liz Montgomery led three All-American
runners for Geneseo as she finished third in the race in a time of 22:00, just
nine seconds off the winning time set by Hailey Harren of Gustavus Adolphus.
Senior Marta Scott and junior Shannon Griggs earned All-American honors after
finishing the 6-kilometer course in 24th place (22:50) and 30th place (22:55),
respectively.
"This is unreal," Montgomery said. "We've been dreaming of
this all season and it happened for us. It was a total team effort, and all of
those people (in the stands) were part of the team. Our team motto is 'Believe'
and I think we all really believed we could do it."
Geneseo's scoring five included senior Renne Catalano, who
was 48th in 23:15 and first-year student Christiana Martin, who finished 56th
in 23:20. Junior Christy Finke and sophomore Karen Merrill were 93rd in 23:54
and 117th in 24:12 completed the Knights' seven.
Head Coach Mike Woods was named the National Coach of the
Year as the Knights won their 10th meet in as many tries this season. Prior to
the achievement, Geneseo's closest national champion contenders were the 1994
women's soccer team and the 2004 men's soccer team, who each advanced to the
national semifinals before being eliminated.
"We're thrilled," said Woods. "This is our college's first
team championship ever. The girls have run together and worked together as a
team so hard. There are a lot of stories here. Liz made a huge impact, and we
knew we were getting a good girl, but Shannon Griggs was hurt two years and was
never able to realize her potential, and Christiana Martin was overseas for a
year."
On the men's side, No. 16 Geneseo finished 20th in team
scoring with 440 points in Ohio. Senior Ross Hunkovic raced to a 78th place
finish to lead the pack in a time of 27:02. Geneseo's top two runners all
season, senior Dan Moore and junior Mike McGrath, were 122nd in 27:28 and 130th
in 27:32. Sophomore Jim Tillapaugh was 131st in 27:33 and junior Billy Holl
galloped to a time of 28:07 to finish 180th and complete the scoring five.
Other runners for Geneseo included senior Andrew McCarthy, who was 185th in
28:14 and first year Will Haskell, who was 193rd in 28:27.
The championships were hosted by Ohio Wesleyan University at
the Methodist Theological School in Ohio and Dornoch Golf Club.
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