Complete TeamsTROY, N.Y. - All-Region honorees for NCAA Division III cross country were recognized by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) following Saturday's NCAA regional championship meets and five Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) student-athletes are among those honored.
Jacob Andrews,
Brian Crowley,
Benjamin Fazio,
Bobby Parker and Shannon Trant earned the distinction by crossing the finish line among the top 35 individual finishers at their respective regional meets last week.
In the men's meet, in which the Engineers finished fourth of 40 schools at Genesee Valley Park in Rochester, N.Y., Andrews (New Woodstock, NY / Fabius-Pompey), a senior, finished sixth, running the 8k course in a time of 25:23,2, a pace of 5:07. He was five seconds away from finishing in the top five. A sophomore Fazio (East Greenwich, RI / East Greenwich) also ran a 5:07 pace, finishing in a time of 25:25.2. It is believed those are the two best finishes for RPI ever at the Atlantic Regional. They both qualified as individuals for the NCAA Championship, which takes place on Saturday in Ohio.
Crowley (Ludlow, MA / Ludlow), who is also a sophomore, ran a 5:13 pace with a finishing time of 25:51.3 to finish 27th out of the 285 competitors. Parker (Johnston, RI / St. Raphael Academy), a junior, was two spots behind, finishing 29th in 25:52.9. Crowley and Parker both closed hard and each passed 14 people in the last mile.
Trant (Niskayuna, NY / Niskayuna), a junior, ran the women's 6k course at a 6:04 pace and crossed the line in 22:36.5, which was less than a second from the 23rd spot. She was 25th overall. The Engineers finished in eighth place out of 40 schools at the Atlantic Regional.
