Jake Byrne In Form At NCAA Regional Championships
The Irish athletes on scholarship in the US enjoyed an astonishing amount of success at their various NCAA regional qualification races on the weekend (14th/15th of November).
*Information supplied by Liaison for U.S. based athletes Br. John Dooley
North East Regionals
Jake Byrne (Mullingar Harriers AC/Iona College) was the stand out performer as he romped to victory in the 10k race in a time of 30.26. He was followed across the line by Kevin Dooney (Raheny Shamrock AC/Yale University) who placed third in a time of 30.30 with Shane Quinn (Ferrybank AC/Providence College) one second behind in fourth place. Liam Hillery (Providence College) placed 23rd as Aaron Hanlon (Clonliffe Harriers AC/Providence) finished 36th (31.18) and Hugh Armstrong (Ballina AC/Providence) finished 80th in a time of 31.54. The Providence men’s team finished second overall and qualified automatically for the NCAA Championships on the 22nd of November.
Tara Jameson (Iona College) had a very encouraging run in the women’s race as she finished 6th in a time of 20.19. Jameson had the added bonus of being a member of the winning Iona College team.
South Regional Championships
Sean Tobin (Clonmel AC/ University of Mississippi) continued the good Irish form over the weekend with a fourth place finish in the SEC Championships. Tobin was also a member of the winning University of Mississippi team. Andrew and Alan Monaghan (Lagan Valley/Mississippi S.U.) placed 58th and 82nd respectively.
Niamh Kearney (Sli Chualann/Georgia SU) placed 121st in the women’s race in a time of 21.44
At the Mid-Atlantic Regional Siofra Cleirigh Buttner (DSD AC/Villanova AC) in her first year on scholarship finished an impressive 17th in a time of 21.10 out of a field of 210 runners.
At the South East Championships Una Britton (Kilcoole AC/Eastern Kentucky University) placed 43rd and Anna Reddin (Eastern Kentucky U) finished 65th. At the South Central Championships Ryan Creech (Leevale AC/Lamar U. TX) placed 37th and at the Mid-West Championships Kyle Larkin finished 129th.
Mitchell Byrne (American University) had a fine seventh place finish at the Northeast 10 Conference Cross Country Meet.