Exciting races marked the 88th men's and 26th women's New England Intercollegiate Championships at Franklin Park. Several teams traveled to the pre-Nationals (notably Dartmouth men, BU/BC/Dartmouth/Brown women) but it was pretty much full strength from there on. The women's race came down to a good old-fashioned shoulder to shoulder footrace over the final 500 meters around Playstead Field. Yale's O'Neill twins, Laura and Kate (13-14 last year), were split by Rachel Hixson of Providence at the finish line, all three recording a time of 17:35. With three more in the top 10, Yale easily defeated PC for the team title for their first New England championship. At the other extreme, Keith Kelly of Providence led from gun to wire to easily defend his gold medal placing. Only Keene State's Wilson Perez hung on for just shy of a mile before Kelly was clearly out on his own. His margin increased each mile en route to a 23:39 time and 27 second margin over Hamish Thorpe. Thorpe led a gang of five who battled it out over the final 3K with four PC runners sandwiching Connecticut's Dan Wilson for places 2-6 in the stretch run. Providence claimed its 15th NE crown, their 17 points matching the lowest ever in the meet (PC in 1982). Perez led his Keene State squad, 2nd ranked in their division polls, to the runner-up spot, highest ever by a DIII squad. Franklin Park, Boston MA 70 degrees, calm, dry WOMEN 1.Laura O'Neill, Y, 17:35 2.Rachel Hixson, PC, 17:35 3.Kate O'Neill, Y, 17:35 4.Katie Rigney, Y, 17:44 5.Lindsey Mitchell, Y, 17:46 6.Roisin McGettigan, PC, 17:50 7.Barb Swallow, Springfield (DIII) ,17:55 8.Katherine LaFrance, Y, 17:56 9.Francine Darroch, PC, 18:00 10.Abagail Anthony, Bates (DIII), 18:05 Teams 1.Yale, 20 2.Providence, 57 3.Rhode Island 133 4.Middlebury (DIII) 179 5.UMass 181 36 teams MEN 1.Keith Kelly, PC, 23:39 2.Hamish Thorpe, PC, 24:06 3.Paul Reilly, PC, 24:09 4.Dan Wilson, CT, 24:11 5.Adam Sutton, PC, 24:13 6.Dermot Galvin, PC, 24:16 7.Jochen Dieckfoss, Boston U, 24:30 8.Wilson Perez, Keene St (DIII), 24:35 9.Robert Doyle, Yale, 24;36 10.John Dudley, 24:45 Teams: 1.Providence, 17 2. Keene State, 119 3.Brown, 122 4.Yale, 160 5.Boston College, 173 Full results at www.bu.edu under NEIntercollegiates at the bottom of the page, and www.coolrunning.com under New Results, Steve Vaitones [EMAIL PROTECTED]
