AIC runs away with team title

HOPKINTON, N.H. (November 8, 2015) – For the second straight season, the Franklin Pierce University men's cross country team was the first team on the outside looking in as the results came in at the NCAA Championship East Regional, hosted by Franklin Pierce at Hopkinton State Fairgrounds. With three teams advancing to the NCAA National Championship race, the Ravens finished fourth on Sunday, just four points behind third-place Stonehill. Instead, Franklin Pierce settled for an individual qualifying for the national race, as senior Colton Ham (Webster, N.H.) placed sixth to lead the team.

Ham advances to the National Championship as the NCAA grants at-large individual berths to the three highest-placing individuals who are not a member of a team which has qualified for the event. Ham, and his 10k time of 31:23.4, was the second such qualifier, behind Southern New Hampshire junior Nacho Hernando in fifth, and in front of Chestnut Hill sophomore Giancarlo Martines in eighth.

For much of the race, it looked as if much better things were in store for Franklin Pierce, as Ham was not even the first Raven in the field with only a mile-and-a-half remaining. Junior Dage Minors (Hamilton Parish, Bermuda) was in fifth place in the late stages of the race, but came up with an injury and had to pull himself out of the running. The injury cost the Ravens at least 30 points, on a day where they finished just 23 points behind second-place Bentley.

Behind Ham, junior Jon Holmes (Albany, N.Y.) added another top-20 finish for the Ravens, as he ran a 32:15.1 to finish 19th. The rest of the Ravens scoring came between 30th and 40th place on Sunday: junior B.J. Smith (Concord, N.H.) ran a 32:43.4 to place 30th, freshman Christopher Lord (North Andover, Mass.) turned in a 32:46.2 to finish 32nd, and junior Dylan Crowley (Woburn, Mass.) notched a 33:03.4 to place 39th.

It all added up to 126 points for Franklin Pierce, which was just four points behind third-place Stonehill (122 points). At the top, American International (45 points) had three of the top four finishers and put all five scoring runners in the top five to post a blowout victory over Bentley (103 points). Behind Franklin Pierce, Southern New Hampshire (143 points) rounded out a top five full of nothing but Northeast-10 Conference teams.

Individually, AIC junior John Chirchir (30:49.0) posted a nine-second victory over freshman teammate Leakey Kipkosgei (30:58.0) in second. Rounding out the top five in front of Ham were Southern Connecticut State senior Dieter Gutbrod (31:08.1) in third, AIC sophomore Mitchell Byrne (31:21.3) in fourth and Hernando (31:23.0) in fifth.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce cross country apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' brand new online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store).