Cross Country

South Easton, Mass. - UMass Lowell's Christina Dalomba (Marstons Mills, Mass.) and Ruben Sanca (Boston, Mass.) were named the 2008 U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association East Region Athletes of the Year. In addition head coach Gary Gardner was named the men's and women's East Region Coach of the Year.

The USTFCCCA names the Division II athletes and coaches of the year for eight regions across the country. Each of the regional honorees will either be running or coaching at the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships, to be held Nov. 22 in Slippery Rock, Pa.

Dalomba ran her strongest race of the year at the East Regional, clocking 22:10 on the 6-kilometer course at Boston’s Franklin Park to win by 15 seconds. She placed second at the Northeast-10 Championship and placed 31st out of 301 runners at the New England Cross Country Championships.

Sanca took home a first-place finish at the Northeast-10 Championship this year after finishing second in 2007 and also won the East Region championship. He won the regional title by more than 30 seconds, clocking 30:30.6 for 10,000 meters. Sanca finished 24th at last year’s NCAA Cross Country Championships.

Gardner helped guide the River Hawks men's and women's cross country team's to a first place finishes in this year's NCAA Division II East Regional. UMass Lowell men and women also won the 2008 Northeast-10 Championship.

With 15 member institutions the Northeast-10 is the second largest NCAA Division II athletic conference in the nation. Its 23 championship sports provide athletic opportunities for over 5,500 student-athletes, the largest such program of any Division II conference.