[Pcalumnixctrack] Providence College Men’s Cross Country Places Third At BIG EAST Championship

[Laura A Nagel]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Saturday, October 31, 2015
Contact: Laura Nagel, 401-865-1245

Providence College Men’s Cross Country Places Third At BIG EAST Championship
The top-5 Friars across the line each earned All-BIG EAST honors at the meet.

MASON, Ohio - The Providence College men’s cross country team placed third at the BIG EAST Championship in Mason, Ohio today (Oct. 31). Senior Julian Oakley (Tauranga, New Zealand) led the team with a ninth-place finish as the first Friar across the line.

The men’s 8km race remained Bunched up in a large pack over the first 2km of the race. Oakley, juniors Hugh Armstrong (Ballina, Country Mayo, Ireland) and Trevor Crawley (Cumberland, R.I.), and sophomores Tom O’Neill (Middletown, N.J.) and Aaron Hanlon (Drogheda, Ireland) were all in the mix at the front of the large pack.

As the race began to spread out, Oakley, Armstrong, Crawley, O’Neill and Hanlon held their positions among the top-20 individuals.

At the 6km mark, Oakley and Armstrong worked together within the pack to push it along, with Hanlon tucked in behind. O’Neill and Crawley had dropped back from the pack but still among the top-20.

As the men came around the last bend into the finishing straight, Oakley powered through to the finish, crossing the line in a time of 23:24.4 for ninth.

Armstrong was right on Oakley’s tail coming into the finish, but he was unable to hold on. He crossed the line in 12th (23:28.8), with Hanlon right behind him in 14th (23:35.6).

The fourth and fifth Friars across the finishing tape were O’Neill and Crawley. O’Neill grabbed 15th-palce in time of 23:40.3, while Crawley was 18th in a time of 24:04.9.

Rounding out the men’s top-8 were seniors Stephen Robertson (Wakefield, Mass.) and Christian Costello (Ridgewood, N.J.), and freshman Austin Scola (Medfield, Mass.). Robertson looked strong over the majority of the course and just missed out on top-20 with a 21st-place finish (24:19.3), while Scola and Costello finished 25th (24:28.7) and 27th (24:32.0), respectively. Additionally, Scola was the first true-freshman in the race to cross the line.

Upon conclusion of the meet, All-BIG EAST honors were awarded to the top-20 finishers in the race. Oakley earned First-Team All-BIG EAST honors for his top-10 finish. Second Team All-BIG EAST honors were awarded to those who finished 11th through 20th, which included Armstrong, Hanlon, O’Neill and Crawley.

“It was a good, solid performance from the men today and was pretty much what we expected,” said head coach Ray Treacy. “We were beaten by two really good teams today but it will set us up nicely for the regional meet in 2 weeks.”

The men will return to action on Friday, Nov. 13 at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championship at Franklin Park in Boston, Mass.

- GO FRIARS -



Laura Nagel
Sports Information Graduate Assistant
Providence College
1 Cunningham Square
Providence, R.I. 02918
(o) 401-865-1245
Online Portfolio<http://cargocollective.com/lauranagel>
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