Johnson & Wales Wins Third Straight Cross-Country Crown

The Johnson & Wales University men's cross country team won their third straight Great Northeast Athletic Conference Championship and sixth as a program with a dominating performance at the conference championships held at St. Joseph's of Maine on Saturday afternoon.  The Wildcats took four of the top five spots and finished with 18 points while Emmanuel was in second place with a team score of 62.

JWU senior James Vance (Newton, Mass.) was named the 2010 GNAC Runner of the year after taking home the individual honors with a time of 26:49.  His time is the sixth best in the history of the meet and he becomes just the fifth runner in conference history to record a time in the top-10 in all four seasons in which he competed.  Sophomore Jeff Hartman (Osseo, Minn.) was in second with a time of 27:11 while fellow sophomore Greg Redfield (Penfield, N.Y.) was right behind him in a time of 27:12 over the 8K course for third place. Wildcat freshman Brian Dinan (Geneva, N.Y.) recorded a time of 28:01 for a fifth place finish and earned him GNAC Rookie of the Year honors. Junior Nathan Smith (Jamesberg, N.J.) had a time of 28:32 which had him in seventh while freshman Jake Delucia (New Fairfield, Conn.) rounded out the JWU runners in the top-10, placing 10^th in a time of 28:50.  All six runners earned All-GNAC accolades.

Johnson & Wales, a six-time winner of the GNAC men's title, came within one point of tying the GNAC conference meet record for fewest points. The Wildcats set the meet record with 17 points in the 2009 event.

2010 GNAC Men's Cross Country All-Conference Team (Top 10 Finishers):