HENNIKER, N.H. – Maine Maritime Academy finished third among the 10 teams competing for the North Atlantic Conference (NAC) Championship at New England College on Saturday. Lyndon State grabbed the top three spots winning the championship by 44 points. Colby-Sawyer placed second with three runners in the top 15.
The Mariners placed four runners in the top 30, with Vijay Kataria (Grassy Creek, N.C.) and Evan Vashon (Waterville, Maine) landing in the top 25. Kataria placed 21st, covering the eight-kilometer course in 30:07, while Vashon took 22nd in 30:12. Cameron Roy (Orrington, Maine) and Wyatt LaPage (Portsmouth, N.H.) crossed in 28th and 29th places, respectively. Roy logged a 30:40 and LaPage crossed three seconds later. Noel Deserres-Gauthier (Dover, N.H.) posted a 31:44 for 40th place in the field of 86 runners.
The third place finish marks a rapid improvement for the Mariners under second-year mentor, Ryan King. Maine Maritime finished in seventh place at last year's conference championship race.
Lyndon State's Kyle Powers earned the NAC Men's Cross-Country Runner of the Year, taking first place with a time of 25:35. New England College's Logan Hatch was named the NAC's Rookie Runner of the Year after finishing seventh overall with the time of 28:00.
Josh Grant (Lyndon/25:59), Tyler Scheibenpflug (Lyndon/26:31), Hayden Bunnell (Colby-Sawyer/27:01), Forrest Teutsch (Green Mountain/27:51) King Nohea (Castleton/27:57) and Jimmy Bielli (Lyndon/28:04) joined Powers and Hatch on the NAC First Team.
Joseph Kill (Lyndon/28:22), Jackson Fortin (Maine Farmington/28:33), Bobby Hoffman (Colby-Sawyer/28:33), Jonathan Murray (Colby-Sawyer/28:51), Ben Lewis (Lyndon/28:56) Chris Bergen (Green Mountain/28:58) and Will Janakis (Thomas/29:02) composed the NAC Second Team.
Maine Maritime Academy returns to action in two weeks at the NCAA New England Regional Championships.
