KEENE, N.H. 10/31/09  - The 13th Annual New England Alliance Cross Country Championship turned out just as advertised at Keene State College's Owl Athletic Complex course on Saturday.

The host Owl women placed all five of its scorers in the top-10, tallying 20 points and capturing its 10th consecutive Little East Championship. Southern Maine was second with 44 points. Meanwhile the men's race was a dogfight with Southern Maine edging KSC 31-27 to reclaim the crown and win its third LEC title.

Junior Allison Chamberlain (Scarborough, Me.) won the women's LEC individual championship and placed second overall with a time of 18:47.  "I do better on hilly courses than I do on fast courses, so today wasn't my strongest performance," said Chamberlain.  But the team did very well. We were trying to get all our top runners in before everyone else and we did that today."

A sea of KSC red followed Chamberlain to the line with sophomores Paige Mills (Keene, N.H.) and Andrea Walsh (Bolton, Conn.) placing second (19:03) and third (19:13) respectively.   Junior Amy Knoblock (Plymouth, Mass.) who placed sixth (19:52) and freshman Maggie Fitter (Branford, Conn.), who placed eighth (20:11) round out the top finishes for Keene State.

Westfield State's Kerry Arcouca, a senior from Hanson, Mass., won the overall Alliance tile, completing the 5K course in a time of 18:41. "I got held back in the beginning, but was able to pull away at the mile and a half mark," said Arcouca.  "There was a lot of good competition, so winning the race was very euphoric."

The four points separating Southern Maine and Keene State was the closest men's race finish since the Huskies nipped the Owls by one points 35-34 to win the 2006 championship.

Led by senior Tyler Jasud (Rumford, Me), who won the race with a time of 26:02, Southern Maine placed all five of its top scorers in the top-10 to outdistance Keene State on the flat 8K course.   "It was a tough one," said Jasud.  "We think about this race all season. We knew it was going to be close."

Sophomore Alex Gomes (Peabody, Mass.) was fourth (26:22), senior Justin Richardson (Turner, Me.) placed fifth (26:34), sophomore John Vallo (Beacons, N.Y.) took seventh (26:55), and senior Nick Downing (Winthrop, Me) finished 10th (27:12).

Looking for their second straight and 11th overall championships, the Owls were led by junior Jeff Trethewey (Merrimack, N.H.) and senior Jared Samuel (Londonderry, N.H.) who finished second (26:14) and third (26:15) respectively.  "We were trying to win on our home course. We knew it was going to be a real close fight between us and USM. I tried to stay with Tyler and in the last half mile he got me."

Rounding out the rest of the Owl top finishers: Junior Brandon Schillemat (Nelson, N.H.) was sixth (26:39), junior Eric MacKnight (Newton, Conn.) was eighth (27:04), and sophomore Kevin Hoyt (Newtown, Conn.) was 12th (27:30).