Atlantic Region CC

Atlantic Region Previews
2008

New to the Regional Website this year is TCNJ Coach Phil Jennings. Coach Jennings will handle the men's preview and all national poll responsibilities that go along with it. The women's poll will be conducted by Brockport's Mark Krueger and he will also manage this website.

As a whole, the Atlantic Region for the women is extremely competitive. It may not be as deep as last year, having two teams in the top 5 at NCAAs, but the number of teams that will battle for the top 5 spots at regions is much larger than previous years. It should be a great year and an exciting Atlantic Regional Championship at St. Lawrence on November 15th.

Women's Preview
Rank	Lst. Yr @ Regional	Team	Preview
1	1t	SUNY Geneseo	5th at NCAA’s Geneseo returns 4 of the top 7 from the Atlantic Region Championship team in 2007, including Regional Champ Liz Montgomery. The Blue Knights also add a number of quality freshmen, including Ashley Jones (Hilton), Samantha Legere (Niskayuna) and Allyssa Smith (Brighton). A couple D1 transfers should also jump right in to contribute to the Mike Woods led team.
2	3	Ithaca College	20th at NCAA’s The Ithaca College Bombers return 6 of their top 7, graduating their #6 from 2007. Freshman Heidi Baumbach (Lake Placid) figures to help out right away. Coach Wally Ware knows how to get his team ready when it counts and he'll have plenty of experienced runners to led the way.
3	4	The College of New Jersey (TCNJ)	22nd at NCAA’s TCNJ return 5 of their top 7, graduating their 4th and 6th runner from the 4th place Regional team in 2007. The Lady Lions have two quality freshmen in Becky Enright (Morris Hills) and Katie Nestor (Northern Highlands Reg.). A couple others showed good improvement through the track season and should help boost the typically deep team, guided by Phil Jennings.
4	5	SUNY Cortland	The Red Dragons return their entire top 7 from the 5th place Regional team in 2007 that narrowly missed an at-large berth to nationals. Two key additions are spring semester transfer Andi Palen and freshmen Allyson Dalton (VVS). The team will have a new coach at the helm in Steve Patrick, who does have plenty of XC coaching experience over the years.
5	10	Brockport	The Golden Eagles return 5 of their top 7, including All-Region runners Julia Ruggiero and Lauren Mesi. The team has several key additions, including spring semester transfers Kelsey Conn and Caitlin McAneney. The top incoming freshmen look to be Amanda Sprague (Baldwinsville), Katy Kohls (Ithaca), Roxanne Smith (East Meadow), Alex Kuhl (Broadalbin-Perth) and transfer Brittany Streeter. Several others have the potential to contribute to the Mark Krueger coached team.
6	8	St. Lawrence	The Saints graduate only Elizabeth Ludovici and with the continued improvement of Wendy Pavlus and Johannah Ludington, the Saints will be very competitive with key additions Jenna Hulton (East Aurora), Cassie DiMarino (Rush-Henrietta), Melanie Solandt (Palos Verdes, CA) and Jenny Kaagan (Belfast, ME). Also, Chelsea Nuffer, who missed most of last year, returns in good health. New head coach Mike Howard (also the director of XC/T&F) is no stranger to the women's team, taking his last team to nationals in 2000.
7	6	University of Rochester	The Lady Yellowjackets return 5 of their top 7, but do graduate their top 2. Many women had outstanding springs and should be helped by newcomers Lauren Norton (Troy Area, PA), Megan O'Connor (Nazareth transfer) and Kristen Fekete who did not run XC last year, but did PV and did run well in HS. Coach Barb Hartwig's team has a lot of potential and is looking to finish in the top 5.
8	7	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)	The Engineers return 6 of their top 7 from the 7th place team at Regionals in 2007, losing their #1 runner. The Colin Tory led team will look to two key new faces in Stephanie Bardon (Good Counsel, MD) and Michele Cody (Billerica, MA) to help the depth of the team.
9	1t	SUNY Plattsburgh	2nd at NCAAs The Cardinals graduate 4 of their top 7, including their top 3 from the 2nd place NCAA team and may not return another. Coach John Lynch has proven he can make ordinary runners into All-Americans and he'll have a good group of youngsters to mold in Martha Brown (Burnt Hills), Colleen Cotey (Norwood-Nolfolk), Shannon Monnette (Monroe St. Mary Catholic, MI) and Erin Keenan (St. Anthony's).
10	11	Hamilton	Hamilton returns 4 of their top 7 from the 11th place regional team in 2007, but add 2006 #2 runner Abby Jones. Coach Ellen Hull has four other newcomers in Jessica McBeck(Winchester, MA), Emily Potter (Austin, TX), Erica Losito (F-M) and Perry Ryan (London, Eng.) will help the depth of the team.
Other Teams to Watch Nazareth (8th) - Return 5 of top 7, losing #1 and #6. Add two quality recruits including Kate Cufari (Pittsford Sutherland). Could very well be ranked higher at the end of the year. Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) (13th) - Graduate 3 of top 5, but add two very good recruits, including Erin LaFave (Bloomfield Hills Lahser Oneonta (18th) - No report, but the Red Dragons return their entire top 7. Vassar (12th) - Return 5 of top 7 from the 2007 Regional team and add 5 faces to add to the mix.
Men's Preview
Rank	Lst. Yr @ Regional	Team	Preview
1	2	SUNY Cortland	3rd at NCAA's Cortland returns every runner from their 3rd place team at NCAA’s in 2007 along with 1500m All-American Niko Viglione, who was not part of last year’s top 7. The team has a new, experienced leader in head coach Steve Patrick.
2	4	SUNY Geneseo	22nd at NCAA's Coach Mike Woods loses his top 2 runners, but returns a solid core from last year's deep team. Incoming freshmen include two-time Div 2 State Champ Lee Berube (9:08/4:20), 800 Div 2 State Champ Kevin Bronson (1:54) and Chris Mateer (9:27).
3	3	TCNJ	28th at NCAA's TCNJ returns five runners with national experience, including two-time XC All-American Chris Guerriero and Brian Kopnicki who missed last season due to injury. Also returns TJ Bocchino (15:03), Dennie Waite (3:58) and a solid incoming freshmen class
4	1	NYU	1st at NCAA's The 2007 National Champions return their #2 & #7 runners from last year’s regional team including two time XC All-American Jesse Schneider. Nick McDonough's Violets look to rebuild with newcomers Peter Murphy (6th at NJ XC MOC), Andy Zitek (9:36), and Ryan Boyd (9:41 3k SC).
5	5	St. Lawrence	Lose 5 of their top 7 including All-American Erik Donohoe and #2 runner Eli Howard. However, coach John Newman's Saints did have numerous improvements on the track including Dan Ramsey (30:34 10k) and look to add depth with a large and talented freshmen class.
6	10	Ithaca	Jim Nichol's young Bombers return six of their top seven from last year's regional squad, as well as 2006 All-Region Selection Drew Hodge that did not run last fall. Ithaca's men had a number of big improvements on the track, and are looking for a top 5 finish.
7	8	Hamilton	Returns Peter Kosgei who looks to contend for the individual national championship, but loses #2 & #4 runners to graduation. Looks to a couple of talented freshmen to add depth.
8	11	Brockport	The Golden Eagles return 5 of 7 from last year's team, led by much improved Pete Manktelow (3:54). Coach Mark Krueger's team looks to a number of solid freshmen to contribute.
9	7	University of Rochester	John Izzo's Yellowjackets lose their core of top seniors, but return 7 of their top 10, and 12 of top 15. Rochester also looks to 5 top freshmen to contribute.
10	12	Rutgers-Camden	No Report - Returns all but track All-American Mike Fox from last year's top 7. Looks to continue the team's annual improvement and make a jump into the top ten at regionals.
Other Teams to Watch Nazareth (9th) - Loses #1 & #3 runners from last year's regional team but returns track All-American Nick Stenuf for his 5th year. RIT (6th) - The Tigers will look to new faces to contribute this year, as they don't return their top 8 runners from last year's team. SUNY Fredonia (13th) - No Report - A very young team looks to improve over last year's finish with new leadership in Jeff Beck . SUNY Plattsburgh (15th) - No Report - A young team led by much improved Michael Heymann looks to improve on last years 15th place finish.