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.
