Oct. 16, 2009

Complete Results

WEST POINT, N.Y. - Led by junior standout Andrew Hanko's (Montville, N.J.) winning performance, the Navy men's cross country team produced each of the top-three times and captured the N-Star for the 10th time in 13 years with a 19-41 victory over Army at the West Point Golf Course on Friday afternoon.

With the win, Navy concludes the regular season with a 1-0 record in dual-meet action and improves to 44-28-1 (.618) all-time against the Black Knights. The Mids now own a 15-10 (.600) all-time lead in Star Meet competitions contested on Army's home course .

"It was a great day across the board," said Navy head coach Al Cantello, who picked up his 31st career N-Star victory over Army in cross country. "It was cold, and the wind didn't help matters much, but our guys didn't let it affect them and ran a strong race. We also received great support from our alumni and I know our guys were thrilled to win this for them."

For the fifth-consecutive race, it was Hanko who led all Navy finishers in crossing the finish line with a time of 25:20.90. He was followed by sophomores James Pearson (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) and Ken Bunnell (St. Johnsbury, Vt.), who completed a 1-2-3 sweep by the Midshipmen with the second- and third-best overall times of the day, respectively clocking in at 25:34.40 and 25:38.30.

Senior team captain Chris Horel (Belford, N.J.) registered the next-best Navy time as he crossed the finish line in 25:45.40, good for sixth-place overall. Freshman Dean Black (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and sophomore Cody Rome (Eagle, Idaho) followed shortly behind with times of 25:45.60 and 25:47.10 in seventh- and eighth-place, respectively.

Sophomore Jeremy Haney (Palmyra, Va.) finished 10th overall with a 25:54.20 mark, rounding out a strong Navy showing which saw the Mids produced seven of the first 10 runners across the finish line.

The 22-point margin of victory is Navy's largest in the series since the 2002 season, when it won the Star courtesy of a 15-46 decision.

Navy will begin the championship portion of its schedule when it heads up to Hamilton, N.Y. to compete at the 2009 Patriot League Championship on Saturday, Oct. 31, at 11:00 am. After claiming a share of the conference crown last fall, the Mids have been tabbed as the outright favorites to win this year's competition.

## GO NAVY! ##