The fourth ranked Iona College men’s cross country team continued to roll through the 2010 season as they trounced the competition at the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship on Oct. 29.  

 

Junior Leonard Korir was the individual champion and led the Gaels as they won their 20th straight MAAC title. The Gaels occupied seven of the race’s 10 spots and 13 of the top-20 finishers wore maroon and gold.

 

Iona scored 18 points at Hammonassett Beach State Park in Madison, Conn. Marist was second with 53 points, while Rider took third with 115 points.

 

Korir blazed through the 8k course with a time of 23:50.5, the second fastest time in a MAAC Championship held away from Van Cortlandt Park. Former Gael Vinny Mulvey is the only other runner to break the 24-minute mark in the championship event, which happened in 2000 at Disney’s Wide World of Sports in Lake Buena Vista, Fl. Korir’s performance also made him the ninth straight Gael to win an individual title.

 

Graduate student Mitch Goose was the runner-up crossing the line in 24:03.9, which was the third fastest time in MAACs history away from Van Cortlandt Park. Goose was 13 seconds behind Korir and 25 seconds ahead of third-place finisher Christian Gonzalez of Rider.

 

Sophomore Craig Murphy was fourth running 24:29.5, while junior Matt Bayley placed fifth with a time of 24:29.5. Graduate student Ben Lindsay finished off the impressive scoring for the Gaels as he took sixth place in a time of 24:49.5. Following the pack of Gaels, two runners from Marist took seventh and eighth, but sophomore Chris Stogsdill and senior Josh Hibbs took the final two spots in the top ten.

 

Iona’s 20th straight conference championship is the country’s second longest active streak in Division I. Portland of the West Coast Conference has won 32 straight titles.

 

Head Coach Ricardo Santos was also named the 2010 MAAC Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year for the victorious season.

 

The Iona College women’s team also continued the dominance of the MAAC as they won their sixth straight MAAC title. Junior Heidi Gregson led the Gaels, as she became the fifth straight Iona runner to win the individual title. Not a single runner had a shot at first place as Gregson crossed the line in 21:02.5 taking second place by 24 seconds.

 

Gregson’s time on the 6k course was the second fastest time in a MAAC Championship race held away from Van Cortlandt Park. 2004 champion of Iona, Emily Chelanga, broke 21 minutes in Lake Buena Vista..

 

Santoscommented on his two individual champions by saying, “I think Heidi and Leonard ran very smart races.  We wanted to be aggressive on the flatter course and I feel like they really went after it from the start.  I was very happy with the way they ran.”

 

Maura Frauenhofer of Canisius finished second, but a pair of Gales were next in the race. Senior standout Natalie Finnerty was third crossing the line in 21:30.1, while 2009 MAAC runner up, sophomore Marion Joly-Testault took fourth place in 21:40.5. Mfor the day. Senior Kristen Peluso notched her third straight All-MAAC honor as she finished ninth in 22:08.3.