Sea Gull cross country season comes to a close at NCAA Mideast Regional

WAYNESBURG, Pa. - The Salisbury University men's and women's cross country season came to a close Saturday at the Green Country Airport here at the site of the 2008 NCAA Division III Mideast Regional Championships. The maroon and gold placed 11th and 17th overall in the men's and women's events, respectively.

The SU men's team totaled 374 points and was forced to deal with light rain showers on a good day to race on a firm course hosted by Waynesburg University. Junior Travis Boccher led the way for the Sea Gulls as he finished the 8K race 38th overall with a time of 26:38. He narrowly missed out on potential all-region honors for the top 35 finishers.

Senior Zack Dickerson (72nd place, 27:16) and sophomore Chris Barnard (77th, 27:19) finished seconds apart from one another but were separated by five places. Sophomore Sam Boimov (90th, 27:34) and junior Dustin Yourstone (106th, 27:49) rounded out the top five for the maroon and gold.

"We didn't get into the race today," said SU coach Jim Jones after the meet.

Carnegie Mellon University finished first on the men's side with 37 points while Allegheny College (73 points) and Dickinson College (86 points) filled out the top three.

The 6K women's race was won by Johns Hopkins University (80 points) followed by Dickinson College (129) and Messiah College (174), who round out the top three.

Salisbury tallied 490 points to place 17th overall. Senior Amy DeMichele paced the Sea Gulls as she finished in 54th place with a time of 24:14. Sophomore Masha Berge (93rd place) was the second finisher for the maroon and gold with a time of 25:02 just seven seconds in front of fellow sophomore Kristin Stromberg (99th). Senior Jenn Bulger (113th, 25:21) and freshman Emily Powell (149th, 25:51) finished fourth and fifth, respectively, for the Gulls, in the final meet of the season.

"The leadership this year has been phenomenal," said Jones of the men's and women's senior class. "Amy and Jenn made us a better team [on the women's side]."

2008 NCAA Division III Mideast Regional

• Men's Results (PDF)
• Women's Results (PDF)