Saints Set New Record, Win 16th Straight Conference Championship

by: 

Tara Freeman

The No. 13 Saints won the program's 16th straight conference championship.

Oct. 10: The No. 13 St. Lawrence University men's cross country team won its 16^th straight conference championship in style on Saturday afternoon, as the Saints set a new record for lowest total with 18 points.  Junior captain Dan Ramsey won the individual title for the second straight season on a rain-soaked Ronald C. Hoffmann Cross Country Course in Canton, NY.

St. Lawrence's total of 18 points broke the previous record of 19, held by the Saints' 1995 squad.  Rensselaer finished in second place with 56 points ahead of Vassar, which closed with 98.  Clarkson (105), Union (135) and Hobart (160) rounded out the team standings.

"I was really impressed with how our seniors stepped up today as it was the group's last chance to compete at Hoffmann," explained St. Lawrence head coach John Newman.  "(Jacob) Malcomb, (Terrence) Fox and (Geoff) Millard had great runs today to help clinch another league title behind the front-running efforts of (Dan) Ramsey and (Jeremy) Mwenda.  Given the wet and sloppy conditions of the course, I'm very happy with the guys and their performances today." 

Ramsey ran another strong race, as he finished the 8k course in 25:35 to claim the individual victory.  Junior Jeremy Mwenda followed 19 seconds later in 25:54 to finish as the runner-up.

Rensselaer's Chas Mitchell kept the Saints from posting a perfect score thanks to his third place finish in 26:24.  St. Lawrence would reel off four consecutive finishes to post 18 points, including seniors Jacob Malcomb (4^th, 26:29), Terrence Fox (5^th, 26:34) and Geoff Millard (6^th, 26:37) and sophomore Seth Jackson (7^th, 26:44).  Sophomore John Johnston would round out the race's top-10 with a 10^th place finish in 26:51.

Sophomore Andrew Goodwin (11^th, 26:58), first-year Sam Rakoc (12^th, 27:00), senior Jeremy Beaudette (13^th, 27:02), and junior Brandon Kenny (16^th, 27:20) would also represent St. Lawrence on the 2009 Liberty League Second-Team.  Each of the top-7 finishers earned First Team All-Conference, while all individuals through the top-14 scorers were awards Second Team honors.

Junior Chris Funch finished in 20^th place overall with a time of 27:31 and was joined in the top-25 by sophomore Alex Calderwood (23^rd, 27:35) and junior Jimmy Mayers (25^th, 27:38).

St. Lawrence was also represented in the 2009 Liberty League Championship by juniors Ian Schofield (28^th, 27:42) and Josh LeBlanc (29^th, 27:44), seniors Todd Lavigne (30^th, 27:55) and Jordan Garfinkle (33^rd, 28:10), first-year Landen Elliot-Knaggs (38^th, 28:15), sophomores Andrew Sargrad (43^rd, 28:48), Tim Liponis (52^nd, 29:21) and Chris Wiles (58^th, 29:54), rookie Mark Perlman (67^th, 30:28), sophomore Kevin Machia (71^st, 30:43) and first-year Tyler Harris (82^nd, 32:07).

The Saints will have next week off from competition but will return to action at the 2009 NYSCTC Championships at Rochester on Saturday, October 24.