Sept. 29, 2009

Center Valley, Pa. -- Navy's Andrew Hanko and Annie Barry earned the Patriot League's top honors after their performances over the weekend.

Hanko was named the Male Runner of the Week, while Barry was selected as the Female Runner of the Week.

American's Mark Leininger was named the Male Rookie of the Week and Army's Jillian Busby earned the Female Rookie of the Week award.

Complete Release in PDF Format

Male Runner of the Week

Andrew Hanko, Navy Jr., Montville, N.J. Hanko finished 22nd out of 167 runners, helping Navy finish ninth at the Roy Griak Invitational — a meet that included No. 17 Minnesota and No. 25 Iowa State. Hanko finished the 8K race in 25:20.5, just 43 seconds behind the individual champion, Hassan Mead, of Minnesota, who is a five-time All-American. For Hanko, this is his second Runner of the Week award in 2009.

Female Runner of the Week

Annie Barry, Navy Fr., Crestwood, Ky. Barry finished 11th out of 82 runners, leading the Midshipmen to a third-place finish at the William & Mary Inter-Regional. The freshman runner finished the 6K race in 22:28.2, which was 1:23.9 behind the individual champion. This is the second award for Barry as she was last week’s Rookie of the Week.

Male Rookie of the Week

Mark Leininger, American Fr., Colts Neck, N.J. Leininger finished 25th at the William & Mary Inter-Regional to fuel American’s third-place finish. His time of 26:47.1 placed him fifth on his team and helped the Eagles place behind Tennessee and No. 15 William & Mary. This is Leininger’s second Rookie of the Week award.

Female Rookie of the Week

Jillian Busby, Army Fr., Merrimack, N.H. Busby placed 32nd at the Roy Griak Invitational as the Army women finished 12th out of 18 teams. For the third straight time, Busby led the Black Knights as their top performer, finishing the 6K race in 22:56. This is Busby’s first League honor.

Honorable Mention Performances Last Week

Zac Reiter, Army Sr., Rock Springs, Wyo. Reiter picked up the top finish for the Black Knights at the Roy Griak Invitational, placing 40th with a time of 25:47.

Colin Eustis, American Jr., Delhi, N,Y. Eustis led the Eagles to a third-place finish at the William & Mary Inter-Regional, finishing ninth with at time of 26:07.8.

Patriot League Notebook

Regional Rankings

The Week 1 men’s and women’s regional polls were released Sept. 28 with eight Patriot League teams cracking the top 15 in their respective region. The Navy women earned the highest ranking as they are ninth in Mid-Atlantic Region. Bucknell is 11th and Lehigh is 12th. The Army women are ranked 11th in the Northeast Region. On the men’s side, Lehigh is 10th and Bucknell is 12th in the Mid-Atlantic Region. American moved into the rankings at No. 13 and is followed by No. 14 Navy.

Jam-Packed Paul Short Run

It’s not the Patriot League Championship, but with four Patriot League teams — Army, Bucknell, Colgate and Lafayette — getting on a bus and traveling to Lehigh this Friday, it sure will look like it. Well, sort of. There will be nearly 40 teams in all competing on Friday, but it will still be the only time that more than four League teams are competing at the same race outside of the League Championship. The six teams will hit the course at 11 a.m. in what will surely be a nice preview for the Patriot League Championship.

Welcome to the Rookie Race

Two Patriot League rookies, both on the women’s side, have stood out after the first month of cross country. Army’s Jillian Busby and Navy’s Annie Barry have been putting up solid performances each week. Both women led their teams last week, posting their squad’s top time. Busby earned her first weekly award with a 32nd-place finish at the Roy Griak Invitational, while Barry won her second with an 11th-place finish at the William & Mary Inter-Regional. Barry, a Crestwood, Ky., native, was a five-team all-state member in high school. She also won the race in the classroom, finishing at the top of her class.

Navy Sweeps Preseason Polls

The Navy men’s and women’s cross country teams have been selected to finish first in their respective 2009 Patriot League Preseason Polls. Both squads are the reigning Patriot League Champions. The Navy women’s squad, which won the title outright last season, earned 97 points in the preseason poll, including 13 first-place votes. Bucknell garnered the other three first-place votes and 87 points to finish second in the poll. Lehigh was picked to finish third with 67 points, followed by Army (58) and Colgate (41). Holy Cross (40), American (38) and Lafayette (18) round out the eight teams in the poll. On the men’s side, Navy took the top spot with 95 points and 11 first-place votes. Army picked up the other five first-place votes and 89 points to finish second. American (69), Lehigh (61) and Bucknell (55) followed in third, fourth and fifth place, respectively. Holy Cross and Colgate tied for sixth with 31 points, while Lafayette was picked eighth with 15 points.

2009 Patriot League Championships

The 2009 Patriot League Cross Country Championships will take place on Oct. 31 at Colgate University. The top 14 finishers in both the men and women’s race will be awarded All-Patriot League status, with the top-seven being named to the First-Team and the next seven earning Second-Team recognition.

Team Notebooks

American The Eagles’ men’s cross country team competed at the William & Mary Invitational on Saturday placing third out of eight teams. The women’s team was idle last week and will return to the course to join the men’s team at the George Mason Invitational on Saturday. The Eagles were led by Mark Eustis, who placed ninth overall with a time of 26:07.8.

Army The Black Knights’ men’s and women’s cross country teams traveled to the Roy Griak Invitational this past weekend to compete against several nationally and regionally ranked teams. The men, led by Zac Reiter, finished 11th out of 18 teams and the women, led by Jillian Busby, were 12th out of 18. Reiter placed 40th (25:47, 8K), while Busby was 32nd (22:56, 6K). Both teams will be back in action at Lehigh for the Paul Short Run on Friday.

Bucknell The Bison were idle last week and will compete in the Paul Short Run on Friday. In their last time out, the Bison men and women lost to Duquesne in a dual meet on Sept. 19, with the women falling 23-33 and the men losing 24-34. Bucknell did manage two second-place finishers, Andrew Huebner (25:08) on the men’s side, and Sarah Moniz (18:30) on the women’s.

Colgate The Raiders were idle last week and return to action at the Paul Short Run on Friday. In their last meet, the Colgate men’s and women’s teams finished third at the Colgate Invitational on Sept. 19 behind first-place Syracuse and second-place Navy. On the men’s side, Colgate was led by freshman Christopher Johnson, who placed 15th (27:33). Elise DeRoo finished ninth with a school record time of 22:24.

Holy Cross The Crusaders were idle last week and will travel to compete at the Murray Keatinge Invitational on Saturday. In their last time out, the Crusaders competed at the National Catholic Invitational in Notre Dame on Sept. 18 with the men placing fifth out of 32 teams and the women fourth out of 31. Paige Sutherland led the women, placing sixth (18:08.4). On the men’s side, Cory Loftis led the Crusaders with a 12th-place finish (26:03.8). On Sept. 19, the Crusaders competed at the UMass-Dartmouth Invitational, with the men placing 16th out of 32 teams and the women placing 13th out of 42.

Lafayette The Leopards were idle last week and will return to compete in the Paul Short Run on Friday. In their last competition, the Leopards lost dual meets to Lehigh on Sept. 19 on both the men’s and women’s side. Sarah Welsh-Huggins led the women, taking the individual title for the second time this season; however, Lafayette lost 28-31. The Lafayette men lost 19-44.

Lehigh The Mountain Hawks were idle last week and will host the Paul Short Run on Friday. In Lehigh’s last meet, it picked up two wins over Lafayette on Sept. 19, with the men winning 19-44 and the women 28-31. Steve Sample led the men, taking first place with a time of 26:25.8. Kaitlin Grimm was the top finisher for the women, placing third (22:11.8).

Navy The Midshipmen were led by two great performances from two-time Patriot League weekly award winners in 2009. Andrew Hanko lifted the men’s team to a ninth-place finish at the Roy Griak Invitational with his time of 25:20.5, good enough for 22nd out of 167 runners in a race that featured two top-25 teams and 13 squads ranked in their respective regions. Freshman Annie Barry placed 11th out of 82 runners to lead Navy to a third-place finish at the William & Mary Inter-Regional. Her time of 22:28.2 gave her the No. 1 finish for her team for the first time. Navy will return to the course when it competes at the Paul Short Run Friday.