Oct. 23, 2007

Amherst, Mass. - The UMass men's and women's cross country teams will head to Pennsylvania this weekend for the Atlantic 10 Championships. Saint Joseph's University will hold the meet at Philadelphia's Belmont Plateau where all 14 Atlantic 10 teams will be competing. Both the men's and women's teams are coming off one week's rest and outstanding finishes the week before at the Albany Invitational.

The women's team took a fourth place overall finish in Albany two weeks ago as their senior captain and top runner Christina Derosa (Sound Beach, N.Y.) won the women's race. DeRosa ran the race in a personal best 17 minutes and 21.7 seconds. DeRosa is the only returning top runner from last year's A-10 Championships. DeRosa finished 10th overall last year and led UMass to a sixth place team finish. The Minutewomen will be looking to their senior leader to set the pace for UMass again this weekend.

Redshirt-freshman Shiyi Zan (Ottawa, Ontario) and freshman Lauren Stocker (Westfield, Mass.), who finished one after the other in Albany, will look to lead the way this weekend along with DeRosa. Zan has been the team's second runner to cross the finish line in four of five races so far this season, while Stocker has finished in the top-five in all five competitions this year.

Senior Amber Sayer (Amherst, Mass.) and freshman Gina Perno (Plainview, N.Y.) rounded out the top five for the Minutewomen in Albany and both have been frequent top five finishers this season. The Minutewomen will look to these five for a repeat performance of Albany and to continue the team's successes as they head into the end of the season.

The Minutemen will be bringing a deep team to the Championships this weekend. In last year's race, junior Jesse Regnier (Hampden, Mass.) and sophomore Andrew McCann (Fayetteville, N.Y.) were UMass' second and third runners to cross the finish line as they took third place overall as a team. Regnier has finished in the top five in three of the teams five races this season while McCann has also been a frequent top finisher for the Minutemen, including being the team's top finisher in two of his three races this season.

In Albany the Minutemen were able to look to newcomers and young runners such as junior Peter Fortunado (Tewksbury, Mass.) and sophomore Nicolai Naranjo (Essex Fells, N.J.). Fortunado was the first Minuteman to cross the finish line in just his second career meet, while Naranjo finished in the top five for the second time this season.

The Minutemen have a lot of options for the Championships this weekend, but will look to improve on last year's performance as the team gears up for the A-10 competition.

The men's team, who is ranked third in the A-10 Coaches Pole this week only behind LaSalle and Duquesne, will begin their race at 10:00 am; while the women's team, who were ranked ninth this week in the A-10 Coaches Poll, behind top ranked Charlotte and Richmond, will begin their race at 10:45 am in Philadelphia's Belmont Plateau.