Tampa, Fla. - The UAH men's cross country team's hopes for a trip to the NCAA Division II National Championships where dashed when one of its top runners was unable to finish. Charger sophomore Samson Too was in the thick of the men's 10K when he collapsed and dropped out of the race. The result was disasterous for the Chargers who wound up with a sixth place finish at the NCAA Southeast Region Championship on Saturday morning. The Lady Chargers finished 11th in the women's 6K.

 

"Florida is a curse for us," said UAH head coach David Cain. "We had something similar happen to us the last time the Regional was here."

 

"We were right right there and had a great chance to finish in the top three, but it just didn't happen."

 

Freshman Stephen Dolan had an outstanding race running the seventh fastest 10K time in UAH men's history finishing eighth with a time of 33:08. The finish earned him a spot on the All-Region team. Joining Dolan on the All-Region team was junior Josh Moshier who crossed the line ninth at 33:10. Senior Will Rodgers narrowly missed the All-Region group, finishing 15th with a time of 33:25.

 

A pair of freshmen, Dante Dorsey and Travis Whatley rounded out the UAH top five. Dorsey finished 51st at 35:51 and Whatley was 79th at 36:51.

 

Overall, the Chargers scored 162 points with their sixth place team finish. Gulf South Conference champion Harding University won the race with 48 points. Sunshine State Conference schools Florida Southern and Nova Southeastern advanced to the DII nationals finishing second and third with 89 and 105 points respectively. GSC schools West Georgia and West Florida finished ahead of UAH at fourth and fifth.

 

In the women's race, the Lady Chargers tallied 228 points. Region host University of Tampa took first place with 32 points. Harding was second with 47 points to earn the other spot at the DII finals.

 

Junior Gwen Kyser was the Lady Chargers' top finisher in the 6K placing 19th with a time of 23:52. A trio of freshmen followed, two in the top 50. Allyson Pierce was 44th (25:29) and Emily Thompson 48th (25:42), while Jacqueline Lintzenich was 55th at 26:06. Junior Amanda Tucker rounded out the Lady Charger top five, crossing the line 62nd with a time of 26:26.