Iona Cross Country Ends Season at NCAA DI Cross Country Championship
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The Iona Gaels men’s cross country team and Iona women’s cross country junior Egle Morenaite competed at the 2019 NCAA DI Cross Country Championship today at LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Indiana, hosted by Indiana State University.
The women's 6K race opened the day and Morenaite was the Gael representative after placing fifth individually at the NCAA Northeast Regional in Buffalo, New York last week.
Morenaite finished 24th in the women’s 6K race amongst over 250 individual competitors. She ran a time of 20:32.6 and average mile time of 5:30.5. She crossed the 2K split in 6:38.9 and 4K split in 13:34.3. Morenaite advanced from her 27
thplace position at the 2k mark to her 24
th place finish outkicking a competitor from No. 8 University of Michigan.
Her 24th place finish earned her All-American distinction. Athletes of member institutions who finished in the top-40 of their respective races at the 2019 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships earned the honor.
This is the second-consecutive time Morenaite has received All-American honors. Morenaite has competed every year in her collegiate career thus far at the NCAA DI Cross Country Championship (2016 - 158
th place with 21:08.8, 2017 - 28
thplace with 20.28.5, and 2018 - 24
th place with 20.32.6).
The No. 15 Gaels men’s team finished 12
th out of 31 teams with a score of 348. Junior John Millar lead the Gaels with a 26
th place finish with a time of 31.12.2 in the 10k race to earn All-American distinction. The Gaels finished behind No. 10 Purdue University by only 10 points. At the 2018 NCAA DI Cross Country Championship, Iona finished 28
th with an average time of 31:12.
Below are the results of the Gaels men’s finishers:
| Name |
Place |
Time |
| John Millar |
26 |
31:12.2 |
| Ehab El-Sandali |
41 |
31:21.2 |
| Jack O’Leary |
66 |
31:37.4 |
| Jamie Dee |
141 |
32:16.6 |
| Jac Hopkins |
145 |
32:18.7 |
| Jordan Brannan |
155 |
32:23.5 |
| Ed Goddard |
185 |
32:47.7 |
Full results for the 2019 NCAA D1 Cross Country Championship can be found
here.
About the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference:
With 11 institutions strongly bound by the sound principles of quality and integrity in academics and excellence in athletics, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) is in its 39th year of competition during the 2019-20 academic year. Current Conference members include: Canisius College, Fairfield University, Iona College, Manhattan College, Marist College, Monmouth University, Niagara University, Quinnipiac University, Rider University, Saint Peter’s University, and Siena College.