June 12, 2008

DES MOINES, Iowa - A story-book senior season came to a close on Thursday night as UMass' Christina DeRosa placed 18th in the 10,000 meters at the NCAA Track & Field National Championships hosted by Drake University. DeRosa was just the fourth UMass women's track and field performer to compete at the NCAA Championships. She entered the 27 competitor field ranked 25 and moved up seven spots with her time of 35:33.33 on Thursday evening.

Kelly Liljeblad and Heather Brown were the most recent NCAA Championship competitors in 1995. Liljeblad became UMass' first All-American with a fifth-place finish in the 10,000 meters, while Brown placed 20th in the javelin. UMass' first-ever NCAA competitor was Patricia Mode in 1982 when she took 11th in the 5,000 meters.

DeRosa entered the NCAA Championship Selection ranked 28th nationally in the 10,000 meters. She ran her NCAA Championship qualifying time of 34:26.95 at the Stanford Invitational on April 4 breaking Liljeblad's school record set at the 1995 NCAA Championships.

At the NCAA East Regional Championships, DeRosa took 21st overall in the 5,000 meters crossing the finish line in 17 minutes, 18.64 seconds. She entered the meet ranked 24th in the region with her time of 16 minutes, 41.49 seconds which ranks second all-time at UMass in the event.

One of the top distance runners in UMass history, DeRosa has enjoyed her most productive season as a Minutewoman. In addition to the outdoor 10K school record, she also holds the UMass indoor 5,000 meter record and ranks second all-time at UMass in outdoor 5K and indoor 3K. She was the 2008 Atlantic 10 Outdoor Track 10,000 Meter Champion, the 2007 Atlantic 10 Cross Country Champion, and the 2007 Atlantic 10 Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

                        NCAA Division I 2008 Outdoor
                         Track & Field Championship
                 Des Moines,  IA   - 6/11/2008 to 6/14/2008
Event 28  Women 10000 Meter Run
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 Final Only.  Two waterfall, one turn, start  (18 - 9)
    American:   30:34.49  5/4/2008    Shalane Flanagan, Nike
College Best:   32:19.97  4/30/2004   Alicia Craig, Stanford
   NCAA Meet:   32:28.57  6/1/1998    Sylvia Mosqueda, Cal State Los An
 Drake Stad.:   32:57.38  1988        Patti Murray, Nike
    Name                    Year School                  Finals  Points
=======================================================================
Finals
  1 Lisa Koll                 SO Iowa State            32:44.95   10
  2 Danette Doetzel           JR Providence            33:44.23    8
  3 Alexandra Gits            FR Stanford              33:49.73    6
  4 Marisa Ryan               SR Boston University     33:54.38    5
  5 Katrina Rundhaug          SR Wisconsin             34:00.62    4
  6 Meghan Armstrong          SR Iowa                  34:01.87    3
  7 Morgan Haws               JR Weber State           34:05.56    2
  8 Racheal Marchand          SR Iowa                  34:05.87    1
  9 Jolee vanLeuven           JR Princeton             34:09.51
 10 Grace Kemmey              JR Iowa State            34:27.42
 11 Clara Grandt              SO West Virginia         34:41.04
 12 Emily Harrison            SR Virginia              34:48.19
 13 Andrea Walkonen           JR Boston University     34:54.32
 14 Katie Read                JR Virginia              35:15.47
 15 Dana Hastie               SR Stony Brook-SUNY      35:19.73
 16 Natalie Sherbak           JR Virginia Tech         35:26.87
 17 Ali Kielty                SO Arizona State         35:27.68
 18 Christina DeRosa          SR Massachusetts         35:33.33
 19 Denise Bargiachi          JR Arkansas              35:41.98
 20 Becky Wade                FR Rice                  35:51.16
 21 Marissa Daniels           SR Rice                  35:58.65
 22 Taryn Gibson              SR Louisville            38:45.60
 -- Melissa Grelli            JR Georgetown                 DNF
 -- Diane Nukuri              SR Iowa                       DNF
 -- Kara Scanlin              SR Virginia                   DNF
 -- Betty Rotich              JR Alabama                    DNF
 -- Lara Crofford             FR Nebraska                   DNF