Men's Results | Women's Results
 
Nashua, NH – Earlier this afternoon, the men's and women's cross country teams competed in the NCAA East Region Championships held at Nashua South High School. Highlighting the day for the men was Andrew Coelho who booked his trip to the National Championships while the women accomplished the same feat and will be sending the entire team to compete in Joplin, Missouri in two weeks.
 
The women came into the race ranked second in the region, #34 nationally and were fresh off of a second place finish at the Northeast-10 Championships held two weeks ago. Meanwhile, the team to beat was Stonehill, the NE-10 Champs, top ranked team in the region and #12 ranked program in the country. “We knew Stonehill would be the team to beat, but we felt confident we would give them a run for their money,” stated Head Coach Katie Rees. “Our goal all year was to get to nationals, and we accomplished just that.”
 
Leading the way, as she has been all year, was junior Elizabeth Eickelberg. The Leonia, NJ native set a huge personal best and almost dipped under the 22 minute mark with a time of 22:01 for eighth place overall and earned a spot on the All-Region Team in the process.
 
Larissa Melendez, Jacqueline Kaste and Jennifer McNally joined Eickelberg on the All-Region Team as well. Melendez earned a 10^th place finish in a personal best of 22:03 while Kaste was the Brown and Gold's third runner to break the tape, placing 12^th with a time of 22:13 to mark an impressive 12 second spread between the one and three runners. McNally was Adelphi's fourth runner on the day, placing 23^rd in a personal best time of 22:50.

Freshman Kristina Coiro put the finishing touches on the team scoring with a time of 23:21. Her place of 44th gave the Panthers 97 points to solidify their runner up finish and punch their ticket to the National meet.
 
Lindsey McLaughlin and Cecelia Capozzoli rounded out the top-seven with 69^th and 80^th place finishes in 24:08 and 24:21 respectively.
 
“I'm ecstatic and extremely proud of the women,” exclaimed Rees. “They worked incredibly hard from the summer through the entire season and deserve to be at NCAA's. We have two weeks to go until we're up against the best in the country, and I believe our girls will surprise a lot of people in Joplin (Missouri).”
 
Stonehill won the team title with 67 points while St. Rose rounds out representation from the East Region at Nationals with a third place finish with 161 points. AIC was fourth with 165 points while Southern Connecticut State came in fifth with 185 points. Jeptui Cherutich of American International won the individual title with a time of 21:12.
 
This is the third time in the women's program history where Adelphi will have representation from a full team. They placed second at the Regional Championship to Stonehill in both 2001 and 2002. In their first National appearance, they placed 22^nd and then followed it up with a 21^st place showing in 2002.

On the men's side, the Panthers were ranked sixth all year long which proved to be accurate as they finished in just that position with 160 points. “It's a two spot slip from a year ago but considering the injuries they battled all year long, it was a good day today.”
 
Coelho solidified his entry into the National meet by way of a fourth place finish in a personal best time of 29:45 over 10k. The Wantagh, NY native earned All-Region honors for the third time in his career and will look to better his 29^th place finish from last year's NCAA meet and become an All-American for the second straight cross country season.
 
 
Sophomore James Panetta, who has been sidelined since the Paul Short Invitational back in October, was the Panther's second runner to break the tape, crossing the line in 31:46 for 31^st place. Ryan Healy was Adelphi's third runner and earned a 35^th place finish with a time of 31:55.
 
Brendan Abrams and Matthew Moody rounded out the Panther's scoring five with 42^nd and 48^th place finishes. Abrams clocked in with a time of 32:06 while Moody registered a mark of 32:21.
 
Jeff Veiga of UMass Lowell was the race's overall winner with a time of 28:53 while AIC took the team title with 48 points. Bentley snuck up into the second spot with 64 points while Stonehill rounds out the East Region representation at Nationals with a third place finish with 84 points. Host UMass Lowell was fourth with 94 points while Southern Connecticut State was fifth with 124 points.
 
Coelho and the women's team return to action when they hit the trails one more time at the NCAA National Championships in Joplin, Missouri on Saturday, November 17.
 
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