Tribe men and women continue streak of CAA titles

The William & Mary men and women\'s cross country teams continued their streak of Colonial Athletic Association conference championships as the men won their sixth consecutive and the women their third consecutive in the conference championship held on the campus of UNC Wilmington. With top runner Christo Landry out due to a minor injury from a biking accident as well as having Adam Tenerowicz not racing, the Tribe\'s depth was still overpowering for the rest of the conference as they placed eight runners in the top 15 places to win by a 20 point margin over James Madison University. Tribe sophomore Ian Fitzgerald won the individual conference crown with a 24:31 clocking on the 8K course. Likewise, the William & Mary women showed their strength in their depth with 11 runners ahead of runner-up James Madison\'s fifth finisher. James Madison University senior Shannon Saunders successfully defended her conference title in a winning time of 21:04 on the 6K course after she got a strong challenge from Hofstra University freshmen Mary Sullivan.

Behind Fitzgerald were five fellow All-CAA teammates in senior Jeff Hedley (4th, 25:04.01), senior Matt Keally (5th, 25:04.29), junior Keith Bechtol (7th, 25:09.45), sophomore Dave Mock (9th, 25:13.19), and junior Sean Anastasia-Murphy (10th, 25:18.66). To show their further amazing depth, William & Mary put eight runners ahead of second place JMU\'s fifth man with Dave Murphy (13th, 25:23.84), sophomore Steve Hoogland (15th, 25:35.73), sophomore Jimmy Picard (18th, 25:43.85), and Anthony Arena (20th, 25:54.65).
Keally, the defending conference champion, ran a gutsty final CAA race for his squad as he raced through a injury for his squad.

The James Madison University men had a surprisingly strong finish for second. Not much as a surprise in that they finished even though the CAA newcomer Georgia State looked good on paper coming in, but how they faired against clear favorite William & Mary. The Dukes were led to the line by a pair of top three finishers in junior C.W. Moran (2nd, 24:35.87) and Allen Carr (3rd, 24:37.62) with sensational races. Another fine race was turned in as well from senior Evan Kays with a sixth place finishing effort of 25:08.31 to earn All-CAA honors. A great return for Kays who had earned the honor as a freshmen, but was unable to to garner a top 12 finish at the conference meet in his previous two seasons. With big races from their top three, all the JMU men needed were two more runners to step up to fill their scoring five and they got those races from sophomore James Printz (17th, 25:41.74) and senior Nick Noe (22nd, 26:05.89).

Like Keally, another Virginia Beach area runner ran on guts through an injury in Saturday\'s race in Virginia Commonwealth University sophomore Steve Walters as he earned All-CAA honors for the second year in a row with a 11th place finishing time of 25:19.91.

Last year\'s CAA Championships ended up being a one point nail bitter win for the Lady Tribe over JMU, but this year\'s race was a different story as the William & Mary women had too much depth for any team in the conference to handle. While Saunders set a hot pace early on and eventually broke away from the challenge given by Hofstra\'s Sullivan, it was all William & Mary after that with juniors Meghan Bishop (4th, 21:26.55) and Julia Cathcart garnering top five finishes as well as sophomore Erin Prillaman (7th, 21:57.69), sophomore Julie Taylor (9th, 22:09.64), senior Tracy Williams (10th, 22:12.90), and sophomore Kait Hurley (12th, 22:29.94) all becoming first time All-CAA honorees.
Freshmen Kelsey Snowden was top rookie finisher for the Lady Tribe and third overall among other conference runners in 15th place (22:39.08). Sophomore Allie Lewis (16th, 22:39.85), senior Karen Pulliam (18th, 22:53.96), freshmen Emily Schroeder (20th, 23:09.18), and junior Anna Parker (21st, 23:14.57) added extra depth to the squad as the team was able to fit 11 runners in before runner-up JMU could bring a fifth runner across the line.

The second-place Lady Dukes ran respectable despite dealing with injuries and adversitiy. Behind race champion Saunders, fellow senior Nelly Anderson finished her final CAA race strong with a sixth place effort of 21:40.20. Sophomore Michelle Beardmore ran despite dealing with injuries this season and ran strong to finish eighth in 22:07.73. Senior Tiffany Cross (13th, 22:36.95) ran fourth for the squad, while freshmen Christy Ward got stuck in the pressure packed and critical role of the fifth runner as she finished 22nd in 23:22.39.