Trueb, Dextradeur Lead Bentley to Best Finish in NE-10 Championships Since 2002

EASTON, Mass. -- With sophomores Curtis Trueb (Eastchester, N.Y./Eastchester HS) and Rob Dextradeur (Branford, Conn./Branford HS) leading the way, the Bentley University men’s cross country team posted its best finish in the Northeast-10 Conference Championships since 2002.
              
Contested at Stonehill College Sunday morning, the 2002 championships saw the Falcons place third in a team of 14. Bentley, with a score of 97 points, trailed only UMass-Lowell (50) and Stonehill (74) in the team standings.  Bentley’s top five all finished in the top 26, a claim only Lowell could better.
              
Trueb, Bentley’s number one runner, earned second-team All-Conference honors by placing 11th with an 8,000-meter time of 25:27.2.
              
The All-Northeast-10 third team included Dextradeur and senior Steve Gendron (Lowell/Lowell HS). Dextradeur finished 15th in 25:43.8 and Gendron crossed in 21st place (25:54.3), earning All-Conference accolades by two-and-a-half seconds.
              
Rounding out Bentley’s top five were two more sophomores, John Drago (Avon, Conn./Avon HS) in 24th (26:05.5) and Craig Robinson (Scarborough, Maine/Scarborough HS) in 26th (26:06.9). Also cracking the top 30 in the 151-runner field was senior Sean Reagan (Marcellus, N.Y./Marcellus HS), who was 29th (26:16.6).
              
Bentley’s top five finished with 40 seconds of each other, a split no other team came close to matching. In fact, coach Ed Lyons’ top eight crossed the line in a span of under 60 seconds.
              
AIC’s Glarius Rop repeated as champion, finishing 8.7 seconds in front of UMass-Lowell’s Jeff Veiga with a time of 24:12.2.
              
In two weeks, Bentley will be at Franklin Park for the 2010 NCAA Division II East Regional.

NORTHEAST-10 CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
At Easton, Mass.

Team Scoring: 1. UMass-Lowell 50, 2. Stonehill 74, 3. Bentley 97, 4. Southern Connecticut 103, 5. American International 111, 6. Saint Rose 113, 7. Adelphi 145, 8. New Haven 251, 9. Saint Anselm 302, 10. Le Moyne 313, 11. Merrimack 315, 12. St. Michael’s 322, 13. Assumption 391, 14. Southern New Hampshire 415.

Top Individuals: 1. Glarius Rop, AIC, 24:12.2; 2. Jeff Veiga, UMass-Lowell, 24:20.9; 3. Angus MacDonald, UMass-Lowell, 24:46.8; 4. Patrick Fullerton, Stonehill, 24:54.4; 5. Andrew Coelho, Adelphi, 24:57.7.

Bentley Runners: 11. Curtis Trueb, 25:27.2; 15. Rob Dextradeur, 25:43.8; 21. Steve Gendron, 25:54.3; 24. John Drago, 26:05.5; 26. Craig Robinson, 26:06.9; 29. Sean Reagan, 26:16.6; 34. Teddy Farley, 26:24.4; 35. Bryan Sutherland, 26:26.9; 44. Tom Witherell, 26:42.1; 61. Gabe Campbell, 27:14.3; 63. Sean Maguire, 27:16.9; 66. Rob Ballenthin, 27:22.6; 69. Brendan Colford, 27:26.6; 71. Steve Spittler, 27:29.4.