Nov. 21, 2005

Courtesy SUNY Geneseo Athletics

The SUNY Geneseo women's cross country team lived up to this week's national #1 ranking by becoming the college's first ever National Championship team by scoring 88 points to runnerup Williams (MA) College's 107 at the NCAA Division III Cross Country championships this afternoon in Delaware, Ohio.

First year Liz Montgomery led three All-American runners for Geneseo as she finished third in the race in a time of 22:00, just nine seconds off the winning time set by Hailey Harren of Gustavus Adolphus. Senior Marta Scott and junior Shannon Griggs earned All-American honors after finishing the six kilometer course in 24th place (22:50) and 30th place (22:55), respectively.

Geneseo's scoring five included senior Renne Catalano, who was 48th in 23:15 and first year Christiana Martin, who finished 56th in 23:20. Junior Christy Finke and sophomore Karen Merrill were 93rd in 23:54 and 117th in 24:12 completed the Knights' seven.

Head coach Mike Woods was named the National Coach of the Year as the Knights won their 10th meet in as many tries this season. Prior to the achievement, Geneseo's closest national champion contenders were the 1994 women's soccer team and the 2004 men's soccer team, who each advanced to the national semifinals before being eliminated.

On the men's side, #16 Geneseo finished 20th in team scoring with 440 points this afternoon in Ohio. Senior Ross Hunkovic raced to a 78th place finish to lead the pack in a time of 27:02. Geneseo's top two runners all season, senior Dan Moore and junior Mike McGrath, were 122nd in 27:28 and 130th in 27:32. Sophomore Jim Tillapaugh was 131st in 27:33 and junior Billy Holl galloped to a time of 28:07 to finish 180th and complete the scoring five. Other runners for Geneseo included senior Andrew McCarthy, who was 185th in 28:14 and first year Will Haskell, who was 193rd in 28:27.