XCountry @ GNAC Championship
The perennial powerhouse Wildcats cruised to their 4th-straight and 7th overall GNAC team championship. The first four runners to cross the finish line represented Johnson & Wales and the Wildcats placed their first five in the top-ten for a 20 point team total. Norwich University finished in second place with 55 points, while Emerson College snagged 3rd place with 80 points.
JWU junior Jeff Hartman (Osseo, Minn.) was named the 2011 GNAC Runner of the Year after pacing the field of 100 male runners with his 8k time of 26:31. Sophomore Brian Dinan (Geneva, N.Y.) captured 2nd place with a time of 27:03. Junior Greg Redfield, who was the 2009 GNAC individual champion, crossed the line just three seconds after Dinan to lock up 3rd place. JWU senior Nathan Smith (Jamesberg, N.J.) nabbed 4th place with a time of 27:10.
Anna Maria was led by Matt Moquin (Lakeville, Mass.) who placed 37th at the Championship with a time of 31:15 over the 8K course. Bryan Goodell finished just behind in 38th place (31:42), Dan Sanches finished in 39th place (32:27) and William Sangster finished in 40th (32:31).
Rounding out the AMC squad was Dave Sheridan (42nd/32:50), Dan Freeman (46th /34:29), Kadeem Brown (37:08) and Tom Horan (50th/39:32).
Fifth place went to Norwich freshman Nate Deer (Kodiak, Alaska), who earned GNAC Rookie of the Year honors with his time of 27:59. Also earning GNAC All-Conference honors with their top-ten finishes were Emmanuel's Stephen Armstrong (Revere, Mass.), Norwich's Frank Fox (Birdsboro, Pa.), Emerson's Kyle Oppenheimer (Kingston, N.H.), Norwich's David Rosenthal (Pasadena, Md.) and JWU's David Tores (Ann Arbor, Mich.). Johnson & Wales University Head Coach Thomas Spann was voted the 2011 GNAC Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year.
