Oct. 21, 2007

New Britain, CT- Both the Seahawks men and women's cross country teams finished fifth out of nine at the Central Connecticut State Mini-Meet. Senior Mouhamed Halwani (Staten Island, NY/Xaverian) and junior Brecken Drager (Loomis, Ca/Del Oro) led the way for the Seahawks.

Halwani was able to break away from the pack early with his seventh place finish taking him only 15:33. Freshman Derek Rammelkamp (Miller Place, NY/Miller Place) followed hot on Halwani's heels for a 13th place finish with a time of 16:06 while junior Allen Koehler (Okeana, OH/William Henry Harrison) finished at 17:02, placing 36th. Junior James Johnston (Middle Island, NY/Longwood) and freshman Brian Doxey (West Islip, NY/West Islip) finished out the men's side with 39th and 53rd places respectively.

Head coach Joe Stasi decided to hold out middle runners Brian Halling (Amherst, NH/Souhegan) and Thomas Rammelkamp (Miller Place, NY/Miller Place) to keep the boys fresh for the Northeast Conference Championships next week.

"It was only a 5K this week and the boys know the course pretty well," said head coach on Halling and Rammelkamp. "I didn't want to risk anything for next week so I kept them out."

Drager paced things for the women, finishing in 11:37 at fourth place in the two mile course. Next through the pack brought senior Meaghan Robbins with a 15th place performance in 11:57. Junior Ashley Mallen (Staten Island, NY/St. John Villa) placed 29th and sophomore Jenna Nalgeri (Stony Point NY/North Rockland) placed 41st followed close behind by junior Ryan Rogers (Islip, NY/Islip) in 46th and sophomore Nicole Panik (Staten Island, NY/St. John Villa) in 53rd.

The Seahawks return to Central Connecticut State October 27th for the NEC Championships.