Vincent Bett earned Sun Conference Runner of the Year honors for the second straight year
Embry-Riddle Captures 10th Consecutive Sun Conference Men's Cross Country Crown
FINAL RESULTS
LAKE WORTH, Fla. - The NAIA No. 6 Embry-Riddle men's cross country team claimed the program's 10th straight Sun Conference championship on Saturday morning, placing five runners in the top 10 to best 10 other TSC schools and earn an automatic bid to the 2014 NAIA Men's Cross Country National Championships in Lawrence, Kan. on Nov. 22.
The Eagles, competing for the final time at the league championship meet as the ERAU athletic department transitions to the NCAA II and Sunshine State conference starting in 2015-16, were paced by Sun Conference Runner of the Year Vincent Bett. Bett won the race in 25:29.31, the second straight season he has captured the league's top running honor.
Northwood's Jacob Alplund was the second-place finisher overall, finishing the 8K race in 25:57.82 to earn first team All-Sun Conference accolades. Alec Hernandez ran to a third-place finish in 26:01.18 while SCAD Savannah runners Emanuel Krieg (26:12.30) and Matthew Smith (26:17.35) finished fourth and sixth, respectively, sandwiched around University of South Carolina Beaufort runner Anthony Vecchio (26:14.14) in fifth.
Blue and Gold runners Matt Graves, Andrew Carpenter and Jamin Mays rounded out the Eagle scorers as the team finished with 30 total points. The Bees of SCAD came in second with 53 total points, while Warner ran to a third-place finish with 109 points. Southeastern (110), Northwood (152) and USCB (159) went fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively, while Ave Maria (182), Webber International (190), Johnson & Wales (270), St. Thomas (290) and Florida Memorial (342) rounded out the league finishers.
Bett, Alplund, Hernandez, Krieg, Vecchio, Smith and Graves were all named to the first team All-Conference roster, while Aesop Brown (SCAD), Carpenter, Mays, Nic O'Neil (USCB), Ryan Larson (Embry-Riddle), Daniel Marin (Warner) and Paul McKenna (Embry-Riddle) claimed a spot on the second team All-Conference list.
Joining Bett as special award winners following the race, Carpenter was named the league's Newcomer of the Year for being the top-finishing newcomer and ERAU Head Coach Mike Rosolino claimed the league's Coach of the Year honors.
Alplund, a senior from Lund, Sweden, was honored as the conference's Champion of Character award winner. Alplund maintained a perfect 4.0 grade point average over his three years at Northwood, earning President's List honors every semester. Alplund worked as a Resident Assistant on campus as well as spending time tutoring, participating in the SAAC and an Outstanding Business Leader host and was the treasurer of the Student Government Association. Alplund was given the "Excel Star Achiever" award for accumulating the most volunteer credit hours amonst all students during the 2012-13 school year.
Additionally, 23 student-athletes were named to the Academic All-Conference list.
Thomas Mullally, Ave Maria
Ryan Larson, Embry-Riddle
Dalton L'Heureux, Embry-Riddle
Palmer Lintz, Embry-Riddle
Alec Hernandez, Embry-Riddle
Matt Graves, Embry-Riddle
Raell Armigos, Johnson and Wales
Ben Evens, Johnson and Wales
Jacob Alplund, Northwood
Pedro Fonseca, Northwood
Ian Matta, SCAD Savannah
Matthew Smith, SCAD Savannah
Eli Schneider, SCAD Savannah
Benjamin Goodberry, Southeastern
Kael Gouriluk, Southeastern
Michael McCain, Southeastern
Stephen Pena, Southeastern
Drew Smith, Southeastern
Kyler Kathman, Southeastern
Joshua Rosner, St. Thomas
Emilio Giler, Warner
James Pivacco, Warner
Conor Appel, USCB