men's cross country News - July, 2009 Archive

June 9: St. Lawrence University's head men's cross country coach John Newman has announced that three upperclassmen, Terrence Fox '10, Jacob Malcomb '10 and Dan Ramsey '11, will captain the Saints in the fall of 2009. The trio will attempt to lead the Saints back to the NCAA Championship after a 17th place finish in 2008.

Dec. 5: The St. Lawrence University men's cross country team swept the 2008 Liberty League awards, as the conference named its annual award winners on Friday. Sophomore Dan Ramsey was named the 2008 Runner of the Year, while first-year student Steve Kiplagat was tapped as the Rookie of the Year. Finally, head coach John Newman was named the conference's Coach of the Year for the fourth time in five years.

"Dan (Ramsey) and Steve (Kiplagat) were so important to our success this season, and I am very proud of each of their work throughout the season," said Coach Newman. "I'm also honored to be selected as Coach of the Year, but without the dedication and effort by our team, it wouldn't be possible."

Ramsey, a four-time Liberty League Performer of the Week, was the 2008 Liberty League champion and was the Saints' consistent front-runner throughout the season. He earned top-10 finishes at the 2008 Pre-Regional (6th), the Inter-Regional Rumble (3rd) and the 2008 NCAA Atlantic Regional (7th). The Essex Junction, VT native concluded his season with a 69th place finish at NCAA's.

Nov. 22: St. Lawrence University first-year student Steve Kiplagat finished in 58th position overall out of 278 competitors on Saturday at the 2008 NCAA Men's Cross Country Championship at the L.S. Ayres Complex on the campus of Hanover College in Hanover, IN. The Iten, Kenya native's finish helped the Saints land in 17th place overall out of 32 teams.

The men's race began at 11:00am in mid-20 degree temperatures, heavy frost and light winds. The 8k course was firm and fairly fast, with the sidelines occupied by a large contingent of St. Lawrence University parents and alumni who were out in full force to support both the men's and women's squads.

Kiplagat was the top-runner for St. Lawrence with a time of 25:18. The Iten, Kenya native, who managed to rebound from a fall at the halfway point, was followed by sophomore Dan Ramsey, who was four seconds back at 25:22 in 69th position.

Junior Terrence Fox followed Ramsey in 131st place with a time of 25:47, while classmate Jacob Malcomb was two seconds back in 141st place with a time of 25:49.

Rounding out the St. Lawrence University line-up on Saturday were juniors Geoff Millard (205th, 26:14) and Jeremy Beaudette (231st, 26:26) and senior Mark Burnham (263rd, 26:47).

Nov. 16: After narrowly missing out on a team berth to the NCAA Championships last season, the wait is over for the St. Lawrence University men's cross country team, as they have received an at-large bid into the 2008 championships.

"I thought we raced very well yesterday (at the NCAA Atlantic Regionals) and left it all on the course," said Saints' head coach John Newman, whose squad finished in fourth place at Regionals thanks to a 7th place finish by sophomore Dan Ramsey and an 11th place showing by first-year student Steve Kiplagat. "We had a very strong season, and we're looking forward to getting to Indiana."

In order to be eligible to participate in the national championship, teams and individuals must qualify in their respective NCAA regions by finishing in the top-five as a team or top-seven individually.

Thirty-two teams were selected to participate in both the men's and women's championships. The top two, seven-person teams automatically qualified from each of the eight regions, for a total of 16 teams. Sixteen additional teams were selected at-large. Fifty-six individuals, the first seven athletes from each region who are not a part of a qualifying team, were selected to participate in each championship.

The 2008 NCAA Championship races will be run on Saturday, November 22nd at Hanover College at the L.S. Ayres Complex in Hanover, IN. The men's race will begin at 11:00am eastern time followed by the women's race at 12:00pm eastern time.

Nov. 15: The size of the traveling party is in the hands of the selection committee.

Dan Ramsey and Steve Kipligat will be running in St. Lawrence colors at the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships at Hanover College in Indiana next weekend, but the rest of their teammates will have to wait until Sunday to find out if it is going to be a full-team or just the two individuals.

The Saints finished fourth in the 30-team field at the 2008 Atlantic Regional Cross Country Championships run on SLU's 8000 meter Ronald C. Hoffmann Cross Country Course on a rainy Saturday, and while the top two teams in the meet are guaranteed qualification for the NCAA Championship race, the next three earn the right to be placed in the pool for consideration as at-large entries in next weekend's championship. The full field will be announced on Sunday and the team selection process will also impact the individuals qualifying from the Atlantic Region.

"We know Dan and Steve are in regardless of what happens team-wise," said Saint coach John Newman. "I think we have a pretty good shot at getting a team bid based on what we have done so far this season."

Nov. 8: St. Lawrence University's men's cross country team had some key finishes from their third, fourth and fifth runners to hold off Ithaca College for second place in the 10-team NYSCTC Cross Country Championships at Hamilton Saturday afternoon.

The University of Rochester won the meet with 53 points with the Saints second with 63 and Ithaca third with 64. Hamilton was a distant fourth with 122 points.

Jeremy Beaudette was the top Saint finisher, ninth overall in 27:35 on the eight kilometer course while Jacob Malcomb finished tenth in 27:37.4. Terrance Fox was 12th in 27;42.4, Dan Ramsey 13th in 27;43.1 and Geoff Millard completed the Saint scoring with a 19th place finish in 27;50.3.

Ramsey and Millard had the key finishes in holding off Ithaca as the Bombers fourth and fifth scorers finished 17th and 20th for the one point difference.

Chris Funch was 23rd in 28:05.7 and Brandon Kenny was 26th in 28:11.8 to complete the Saint top seven. Mark Burnham was 34th overall in 28:31.5, Seth Jackson was 36th in 28;32.5 and Will Manning was 42nd overall in other finishes for the Saints.

Oct. 25: St. Lawrence University sophomore Dan Ramsey and junior Terrence Fox landed in the top-10 at the 2008 Saratoga Invitational on Saturday out of 305 competitors on the 8k course. The duo's times helped the men's cross country team earn second place overall at the event out of 26 teams.

Ramsey was the Saints' top finisher, as his time of 25:29 placed him in fifth position overall. He was followed by Fox, who ran an outstanding race to finish in 10th place (25:52).

Senior Mark Burnham was only five seconds behind Fox in 15th place (25:57), while juniors Jacob Malcomb (17th, 26:00) and Geoff Millard (23rd, 26:11) surged to the finish line in impressive fashion. First year student Steve Kiplagat was the sixth St. Lawrence finisher in 26th position with a time of 26:17 and he was followed by junior Jeremy Beaudette (32nd, 26:25) and sophomore Chris Funch (43rd, 26:38).

Rounding out St. Lawrence's top-ten finishers at the event hosted on the Saratoga Spa State Park course were sophomore Brandon Kenny (54th, 26:54) and rookie Seth Jackson (60th, 27:01).

"Our team followed our pre-meet race strategy throughout the race, which helped us achieve two of our primary goals, including running fast times on the Saratoga course and tightening our top-five spread," said St. Lawrence University head coach John Newman. "We had a big day from Terrence (Fox) as our second finisher, along with Geoff (Millard) who came on strong late in the race to land in our top-five."

Oct. 18: Sophomore Dan Ramsey was third in a 272 runner field and the St. Lawrence men's cross country team finished fourth in the 30-team Interregional Rumble hosted by Oberlin College on Saturday.

Ramsey ran the 8-kilometer course in 24:52 finishing just seven seconds behind Dickinson?s Greg Leak and nine behind champion Jesse Schneider of NYU.

NYU won the team championship with 47 points with Dickinson second with 104, Ohio Northern third with 115, the Saints fourth with 133 and Allegheny fifth with 155 in the 30-team field.

Jacob Malcomb was the second Saints finisher and 27th overall in 25:35 as the next six Saint finishers ran within 26 seconds of each other. Steve Kiplagat was 31st overall in 25:37 with Mark Burnham 35th in 25:41 and Terrance Fox 37th in 25:45 to complete the Saint scoring. Geoff Millard was the sixth Saint finisher in 47th in 25:51 and Jeremy Beaudette rounded out the Saint top seven with a 25:58 clocking and 57th place.

Brandon Kenny ran 26:06 and was 65th overall in the big field while Chris Funch ran 26:26 and was 94th and Seth Jackson ran 26:32 to finish 104th.

The Saints will return to action at the Saratoga Invitational Oct. 25

Oct. 4: Sophomore Dan Ramsey crossed the finish line first in a field of 103 runners on Saturday afternoon as he led the St. Lawrence University men's cross country team to their 14th consecutive Liberty League Championship title in the 2008 conference championships, held on the Ronald C. Hoffmann Cross Country Course in Canton, NY.

The Saints, who are currently ranked 29th in the country, have never lost a Liberty League championship dating back to 1994 and won the 2008 title with 22 points, and their 14th title extends the league's record of most team wins. Rensselaer finished second with 56, while Vassar placed third with 70 points. Clarkson tallied 118 points for a fourth place finish, as Hobart (137) and Union (166) finished fifth and sixth.

Ramsey is the tenth individual champion for the Scarlet and Brown, the fourth in five years, increasing the current Liberty League record of most individual champions from any men's program in the conference. His time of 25:41 was 20 seconds ahead of second place finisher Anthony Lucero from Vassar, who clocked in at 26:01.

Junior Jacob Malcomb was the third place finisher overall with a time of 26:14, while classmates Geoff Millard (26:24) and Jeremy Beaudette (26:33), along with senior co-captain Mark Burnham (26:33), finished fifth, sixth, and seventh, respectively. Rounding out the top ten race finishers was St. Lawrence sophomore Chris Funch, who finished with a time of 26:38. St. Lawrence has now had 72 individuals finish in the top ten at the championships.

Sept. 27: Sophomores Dan Ramsey and Jeremy Mwenda each logged top-10 finishes on Saturday at the 17th Annual Ronald C. Hoffmann Invitational, leading St. Lawrence to a 3rd place finish overall in their home meet, which also served as this year's Atlantic Pre-Regional.

Ramsey finished in sixth place overall out of 250 competitors with a time of 25:35, while Mwenda was three spots back in ninth (25:51). Hamilton's Peter Kosgei won the men's 8k race by almost 19 seconds ahead of Cortland's Shamus Nally with a time of 25:02.

Junior co-captain Terrence Fox was the Saints' third finisher in 26:20, followed by fellow classmate Jacob Malcomb (23rd, 26:30) and senior Mark Burnham (29th, 26:37). First year student Steve Kiplagat (26:49) and sophomore Chris Funch (26:50) rounded out St. Lawrence's scoring with 36th and 37th place finishes, respectively.

The Saints' top seven finished with a total of 81 points, 17 behind the 2008 team champions, Geneseo State (64). Cortland finished three points behind the Blue Knights with 67 points.

Junior Jeremy Beaudette (49th, 27:07), first year Seth Jackson (50th, 27:07), sophomore Brandon Kenny (56th, 27:16) and junior Geoff Millard (62nd, 27:25) narrowly missed out on the team's top-seven, while rookies Mike Fox (66th, 27:32) and Matthew Spicer (68th, 27:35), senior Will Manning (75th, 27:40) and first year Andrew Sargrad (88th, 27:56) followed.