Saturday afternoon brought favorable results for both teams and one individual in particular. The men's team took fifth and the women's took sixth, but senior Dan Jackson earned All-Big East at the Big East Conference Championships at Jamesville Beach Park in New York.
Jackson took 12th place for the men, coming in at 25:32. With this finish also came the first All-Big East honor of his career.
Following Jackson came freshman Martin Grady, who took 20th place in 25:59. Closely behind Grady, sophomore Jeremy Rae and junior Johnathan Shawel finished back-to-back in 26th and 27th place, splitting their time by only one second at 26:09 and 26:10. Junior Jordan Carlson crossed the finish line in fourth for the Irish at 44th place and finishing the race in 26:34.
"We have a very clear number one guy in Dan Jackson but as for the rest it is a toss up as to who will finish out for the next four spots," Carlson said.
Finishing outside the top five were senior Mat Abernethy at 53rd place and 26:54, another pair of back-to-back runners, juniors Kelly Lynch and Joseph Miller at 64th and 65th place with times of 27:24 and 27:25 and finally senior Ryan Gamboa at 69th and 27:30.
"We have an incredible group of talented runners who have been more dedicated to the sport and ‘living the lifestyle' it takes to succeed than any other team I have ever been on," Jackson said. "We are steadily making our presence known."
The men ended with 127 points to come in fifth place of 14 teams.
Freshman Meg Ryan finished first for the Irish and came in 30th overall in 22:05. Closely behind her was senior Erica Watson in 33rd place at 22:11. Seconds later, sophomore Rebecca Tracy crossed the finish line in 38th place in 22:34 and junior Rachel Velarde in 42nd place in 22:38.
Concluding the Irish line-up were freshmen Kelly Curran and Alexa Aragon at 47th place in 22:45 and 55th place in 22:59. Junior Molly Hirt and senior Theresa Cattuna came in back-to-back in 63rd and 64th place in 23:12 and 23:18. Junior Susanna Sullivan wrapped up the team in 94th place at 24:19.
The women finished with 183 points to take sixth place of 16 teams.
