Junior Christina Newlands

NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, N.Y. – The Niagara University men’s and women’s cross country teams both placed ninth in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship Saturday, hosted by Disney’s Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Fla. The men’s team finished with 259 points, while the women totaled 222.

Iona, finishing with 15 points, won the men’s title for the 14th consecutive season, while Marist totaled 40 points to take the women’s crown. Niagara finished ahead of Saint Peter’s on both the men’s and women’s side.

Junior Jonathan Lacki (Grand Island, N.Y.) led the Purple Eagles for the fifth-consecutive race, earning 37 points with a time of 28:00 in the 8,000-meter run. Sophomore Tom Caracci (Tully, N.Y.) finished 30 seconds behind Lacki to earn 48 points.

With a time of 28:51, Gary Raby Jr. (Lewiston, N.Y.) placed third among the Purple Eagles, good for 51 points, while junior captain Dan Pace (Cazenovia, N.Y.) earned 59 points with a time of 29:20.

Sophomore Darius Bessette (Longmeadow, Mass.) and freshman John Tees (Clay, N.Y.) rounded out the scoring for the men, earning 64 and 67 points, respectively.

Racing in their first 6K of the season, the Niagara women placed two runners in the top 50, including freshman Julie Dickhans (Sewickley, Pa.). Dickhans led Niagara with a time of 23:30 to earn 24th place.

Junior Christina Newlands (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) earned 42 points with a time of 24:42. It marked the first time she finished among Niagara’s top two since the Little Three Meet, Oct. 19, 2002.

Freshman Katie Tees (Clay, N.Y.) finished 58th overall to score 47 points for Niagara with a time of 25:24. Junior captain Carrie Hoestermann (Spencerport, N.Y.) finished 34 seconds behind Tees, good for 54 points.

With a time of 26:23, sophomore Tatyana Sapaleva (New Hartford, N.Y.) placed fifth among the Purple Eagles, while junior Mary Pieklo (Hornell, N.Y.) and freshman Kara Hegarty (Hornell, N.Y.) rounded out Niagara’s scoring with 58 and 61 points, respectively.

Iona junior Richard Kiplagat finished the men’s race with the fastest time of 24:19 and was named the men’s Most Outstanding Runner, and for the women, Iona’s Emmily Chelanga had the top time of 20:39 and was named the women’s Most Outstanding Runner.

The Purple Eagles have two weeks to prepare for the NCAA Northeast Regional meet, held at Van Cortlandt Park, Nov. 13. The men begin at 10 a.m. and the women at 11 a.m.