Felton, Dieckfoss Lead Cross Country At Conference Championship

By Collin Seguin

Boston University proved once again Sunday it is the class that defines America East cross country.

The women's cross country team finished first at the conference championships yesterday, while the men finished a close second to the University of New Hampshire, rounding out a successful day for both teams. Individually, senior Rachel Felton won the women's race, while sophomore Jochen Dieckfoss won the men's contest.

Dieckfoss's time was the second-fastest time in the history of the event at 24:38.40.

"Both teams ran really well; I'm proud of the way we competed," said head coach Bruce Lehane. "For both teams, it was one of their better — if not their best — race of the year."

The women's team held five of the top six spots in the final standings, with Felton being followed by junior Sherida Bird in third and the senior trio of Kathryn Ireland, Jennifer Kehoe and Lauren Matthews sweeping the fourth, fifth and sixth spots, respectively.

"This was the first meet where we ran at that intensity level, and we've been looking for that all season," Lehane said. "It seemed like our timing was right on. We stayed together and were really able to just take over, which is what we're capable of."

According to Lehane, the key may have been Bird's ability to control the pace. "Bird really pushed the Vermont runner and didn't allow her to choose her own pace," Lehane said. "Then Rachel kind of got in there, and Sherida told her to go ahead and break away from the field. Sherida played a really important part out there though, and didn't let the front runner break away."

The men were at a disadvantage from the start, as an illness to senior captain Jason Borbet made it unable for him to finish the race.

"Jay not being able to run was big," Lehane said. "We were a man down basically, and he's one of our best runners, so that hurt even more. The fact that we ran the way we did still was very good."

Lehane said there's a "reasonable" chance Borbet would be able to return for the team's next meet, saying, "he's a tough kid, and if he's able to run, he's going to want to be right back out there."

After Dieckfoss, junior Jordan Jones was the Terriers' next best runner, finishing sixth, while sophomore Dan Coval gave the team a third runner in the top 10, finishing 10th.

"Tactically, I ran pretty well," Dieckfoss said. "Once I could see that the guy ahead of me was starting to tire, I just started to try to break away from him. The fact we were missing Jason hurt a lot, though."

"Jochen stuck with the plan I had told him," Lehane said. "I didn't want him to set too fast of a pace and break away, and he was able to just sit back until the end of the race, which was just what we wanted."

Coval's run was especially impressive in that it was his first race in over a year.

"He hadn't had more than 30 or 40 runs before this race, but he really dug down a lot for us," Lehane said. "He willed himself to do it, and to run and finish the way he did, that says a lot about the type of athlete and type of person he is."

Both teams will now prepare for the NCAA national races to finish out the season.

"Now we kind of have to change our approach, but still try to keep that intensity we had on Saturday," Lehane said. "It's a lot more chaotic, there are a lot more runners than in the conference meet and you have a much higher level of competition. But if we run the way we ran last weekend, and work the way we've been working, I don't see any reason why we can't finish extremely well in both races."