Laraia, Mascoli, Fitzgerald Named All-PSAC at Cross Country Championships

CALIFORNIA, Pa. – Junior Greg Laraia and sophomores Rose Mascoli and Corinne Fitzgerald earned All-PSAC honors as East Stroudsburg University finished fifth in the men’s race and sixth in the women’s race at the 2010 PSAC Cross Country Championships on Saturday at California.

All three runners claimed their first career All-PSAC recognition as both teams placed in the top six in the conference in the same year for the first time since 1999, when the women were third and men were fifth.

Laraia finished 17th to lead the men’s squad after placing 21st last season, one spot out of an all-conference slot. Sophomores Mike Pereira and Amr Aldeen were 25th and 27th, senior Chris Zadroga was 43rd and sophomore James Romano was 55th to score for the Warriors, who were fourth last season and have back-to-back top-five finishes for the first time since 1996-97.

Mascoli and Fitzgerald are ESU’s first two All-PSAC runners on the women’s side since Vanessa Andes in 2005 and helped the Warriors to a six-place improvement on last year’s finish, tied with Edinboro for the most places picked up in the PSAC standings.

Mascoli finished in 23:01 and Fizgerald crossed in 23:32 to turn in a pair of strong finishes. Senior Jonna Trexler placed 40th, freshman Kim Wernerspach was 41st and sophomore Bridget McCarron was 57th overall.

Shippensburg swept both the men’s and women’s team titles and had 17 of the 40 combined All-PSAC selections and Neely Spence won her third straight individual championship by a margin of 1:10. Edinboro’s Scott Anderson paced the men’s field with a four-second margin of victory with the top 10 finishers crossing within 21 seconds of each other.

The conference will reconvene in Cary, N.C. for the NCAA Atlantic Regionals in two weeks as teams and individuals look to qualify for the NCAA Division II Championships.


Men’s Results (scored top 5)
17. Greg Laraia – 26:54
25. Mike Pereira – 27:32
27. Amr Aldeen – 27:34
43. Chris Zadroga – 28:05
55. James Romano – 28:27
57. Jared Wilson – 28:33
62. Justin Kimbrough – 28:38
76. Mike Saparito – 29:04
90. Tom Zarnoch – 29:27
112. James Ward – 30:32

Women’s Results (scored top 5)
12. Rose Mascoli – 23:01
20. Corinne Fitzgerald – 23:32
40. Jonna Trexler – 24:23
41. Kim Wernerspach – 24:24
57. Bridget McCarron – 24:49
73. Kim Lowry – 25:22
91. Emily Haws – 25:51
92. Cassandra Lacorazza – 25:52
114. Kelsy Rushing – 26:39
127. Lisa Lower – 27:19