Men Win Fourth Straight Title; Delbene Wins Individual Title

The Central Connecticut men's cross country team won its fourth straight Northeast Conference Championship on Saturday afternoon in Smithfield, RI.  The championship was held at Bryant University.  Junior Colby Delbene won the individual title, becoming the third straight Blue Devil to win the individual title (Sam Alexander, 2011; Ry Sanderson 2010).

Central totalled 72 points for its fourth straight NEC Championship.  They placed five runners in the top-27 on their way to the title.  Monmouth (78 points) finished second, followed by Quinnipiac (79), Sacred Heart (109) and St. Francis (NY) (127) in the top five.

Delbene's time of 25:03.77 was over four seconds ahead of the second place finisher, Thomas Gruschow of Mount St. Mary's.  Delbene averaged 5:02.6 per mile over the 8k course in Smithfield.

Sophomore Brian Biekert finished ninth overall with a time of 25:37.70, good for nine points towards the Blue Devils final score.  Junior Andrew Hill was 11th, and sophomore Patrick Hubbell was 24th.  Freshmen Matt Walker and David Scheibenpflug finished 27th and 28th overall.

Mount St. Mary's was sixth, followed by Wagner, Robert Morris, St. Francis (PA), Bryant and Fairleigh Dickinson.