STANDISH, ME- Johnson & Wales University won the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Men's Cross Country Championship for the third consecutive year with 18 points in the 8K event hosted by Saint Joseph's College on Saturday afternoon. Lasell College finished 6th in the team results, with seven runners recording points at the conference meet.

Emmanuel College finished as the runner-up program with 62 points and Norwich University placed third with 78 points. Emerson College (79 points), Saint Joseph's College (159), Lasell College (172), Suffolk University (206), Rivier College (235), Mount Ida College (250) and Albertus Magnus College (300) rounded out the field of participating programs.

The top individual award went to Johnson & Wales' James Vance (Newton, MA) who set a new St. Joseph's Maine course record with a 26:49 finish. Four additional Wildcats placed in the top seven to received All-Conference honors which are earned by the top 10 finishers of the race.  In addition, Abdi Ibrahim (East Boston, MA) was the top first-year finisher and collected GNAC Rookie of the Year honors for his efforts.  Emmanuel College Head Coach Tony DaRocha was selected as the GNAC Coach of the Year as a result of a poll voted on by all GNAC head coaches prior to the meet.

For the Lasers, Miguel Taveras (Lawrence, MA) garnered the top time with a 30:38.53.  Taveras' time was good enough to rank amongst the top-30 competitors, ranking 27th as an individual. 

Raymon Donis (Raynham, MA) made a great showing on the course, clocking a time of 31:18.47, in 32nd place overall. Senior captain Kristopher McCabe (Kingston, NY) concluded the 8k next, in 41st, running a time of 32:27.64. 

Mikhail Krevosky (Oxford, MA) and Charlie Dilella (Branford, CT) took their spots in 48th and 49th place respectively, finishing in 33:40 and 33:55, followed by Michael Isherwood (Warwick, RI) in 34:38.  Jeremy Fay (Belchertown, MA) rounded out the Laser crew with a 43:20.

Johnson & Wales, a six-time winner of the GNAC men's title, came within one point of tying the GNAC conference meet record for fewest points. The Wildcats set the meet record with 17 points in the 2009 event.

2010 GNAC Men's Cross Country All-Conference Team (Top 10 Finishers):

    Name                         School                  Finals  Points

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  1 Vance, James                 Johnson & Wales       26:49.03    1

  2 Hartman, Jeff                Johnson & Wales       27:11.00    2

  3 Redfield, Greg               Johnson & Wales       27:11.50    3

  4 Ibrahim, Abdi                Emmanuel College      28:01.55    4

  5 Dinan, Brian                 Johnson & Wales       28:01.97    5

  6 Oppenheimer, Kyle            Emerson College       28:24.35    6

  7 Smith, Nathan                Johnson & Wales       28:32.58    7

  8 Rosenthal, Joe               Norwich University    28:40.02    8

  9 Christopher, Michael         Norwich University    28:40.87    9

 10 Delucia, Jake                Johnson & Wales       28:50.14   10