University of Massachusets Athletics
Cross Country Teams To Compete In NCAA Regional Qualifier
November 09, 2006 | Men's Cross Country
Nov. 9, 2006
AMHERST, Mass. - The Men's and Women's Cross Country teams head to New York, N.Y. this weekend for the NCAA Regional Qualifier. Last season at the NCAA Regionals the Men took 17th while the women finished 30th. The Minutemen and Minutewomen are coming off remarkable finishes at the Atlantic 10 Championships finishing third and sixth, respectively. At the A-10 Championships, Nils Fischer (Stow, Mass.) led the way for the men while Christina Derosa (Sounds Beach, N.Y.) paced the women.
At the NCAA Regional Qualifier from a year ago Nils Fischer led the way taking 85th overall, while there were three others also finishing among the top-100 in a field of over 250. The Minutemen lost two of their top four finishers from a season ago, but return sophomore Jesse Regnier (Hampden, Mass.) who has put together a very impressive season thus far. Junior Ryan Durkin (Andover, Mass.), who has been a mainstay in the top five all year, was named to the A-10 Academic All-Conference team this week. The Minutemen hope to take their recent strong performances and run well at the Regional Qualifier this weekend.
Leading the way for the Minutewomen for 20 consecutive races has been junior Christina Derosa. This week she added an A-10 Academic All-Conference team selection to her already impressive resume. DeRosa finished 34th overall at the Regional Qualifier last season as she led the Minutewomen to a 30th place finish. The Minutewomen return four of the top five finishers from the NCAA Regional Qualifier of last season including Amber Sayer (Amherst, Mass.), Cuisle Kierans (Newbury, Mass.) and Amanda Bodette (East Middlebury, Vt.). They add freshmen Lauren Liuzzo (Acton, Mass.) and Eilis Kierans (Newbury, Mass.) to the four returnees. The Minutewomen look to improve on their finish from a year ago just as they did at the A-10 Championships.
The NCAA Regional Qualifier will take place in New York, N.Y. beginning at 10:00 a.m. for the women and 1:00 p.m. for the men.
