Nov. 15: Two big moves by rookies over the final 2000 meters of Saturday's NCAA Atlantic Region Cross Country Championship at Genesee Valley Park in Rochester made a huge difference for St. Lawrence University's nationally second-ranked cross country team.

Megan Kellogg moved up four spots over the final 2000 meters to finish third overall and Carrie Pomainville passed five runners to move into 30^th at the finish and the points gained were enough to give the Saints a 50-51 win over Geneseo in the first head-to-head meeting between the two state powers this season.

"We knew going into the race that Geneseo was a very talented, veteran team so it was going to be a battle and it certainly played out that way," said Saint coach Mike Howard.
 

Both the Saints and Geneseo advance to the NCAA Division III Championships in Ohio Nov. 22 as the automatic qualifiers from the Atlantic Region while Oneonta, which finished third, fourth place Cortland and perhaps others from the 39-team regional field will have to wait and see if they land at large bids.

The Atlantic region title was the fifth for the Saints since 2009 and they will be going to nationals as a team for the seventh straight year.

Geneseo, ranked second in the region and fifth in the national polls, led the Saints at both the 2000 and 4000 meter marks in the race, but Saint runners steadily moved up to position themselves for the strong final third of the 6000 meter race.

Senior Cassia Hameline and sophomore Lisa Grohn ran in the top ten from the start of the race, and Kellogg, 12^th after 2000 meters, made a move in the second 2000, moving into seventh before a strong final 2K to help power the Saint surge past Geneseo in the team standings.

Hameline finished second overall behind individual champion Amy Regan of Stevens Institute, who won the race in 21:05.8. Hameline ran 21:26.2 with Kellogg finishing in 21:34.5. Anne Martino was seventh in 21:44.1 and Grohn finished eighth in 21:56.7 to give the Saints four in the top ten.

"I'm extremely proud of this team. We graduated eight talented seniors last year so our success this season was going to require huge improvements from our upperclass ladies and big time performances from our rookies, both delivered today. Cassie continued to run remarkably, Anne Martino, a senior with four years of NCAA experience ran big time over the last mile to gain a few critical spots and our first-year class, Kellogg, who may have run the best rookie race I have ever seen, Pomainville and Leta, ran lights out finishing as three of the top four first-year runners in the region," Howard added.

Geneseo had its scorers in with three in the top ten and five in the top 17, but Pomainville's move from 35^th to 30^th over the final 2000 meters was the key to the Saint win as the Saint top five finished a point ahead of Geneseo. Pomainville ran 22:39.1 with her strong finish while Ashley Leta was the sixth Saint finisher in 37^th in 22:47.3 and Anna Rabideau was 99^th in 23:53.9.