St. Mary's Men's Cross Country Closes out 2011 Campaign at NCAA Mideast Regional

Center Valley, Pa. – The St. Mary's College of Maryland men's cross country team finished 34th in the 47-team field at the NCAA Division III Mideast Regional hosted by DeSales University Saturday afternoon.  Junior captain Dan Swain (Baltimore, Md./Calvert Hall College) was the first Seahawk runner to cross the finish line to pace St. Mary's in its 34th-place finish.

The defending national champions, Haverford College, claimed the NCAA Mideast Regional title as Haverford claimed five top 25 finishes.  Allegheny College's Bobby Over captured the individual title in 25:25.

Two of the four Capital Athletic Conference institutions finished in the top 25 as York College of Pennsylvania tallied 338 points for 11th place in the team standings while Salisbury University finished 22nd.  Hood College finished below St. Mary's in 39th.

Swain finished the 8K DeSales cross country course in 28:28 to place 135th overall amongst the 328 runners, but 131st in the team scoring as he averaged a 5:49 mile throughout the run.

The team's next finisher was sophomore Matt Bennett (Scaggsville, Md./Reservoir) as Bennett picked up a 187th-finish in 29:16 after averaging a 5:59-mile.  First-year Collin Hickey (Bel Air, Md./Patterson Mill) was St. Mary's third top finisher as Hickey placed 215th in 29:42 following a 6:00-minute mile pace.

Junior captain Nick Pasko (Bel Air, Md./Calvert Hall College) averaged a 6:03-minute mile to finish as the team's fourth top finisher in 29:52 for 216th.

First-year Tim Carey (California, Md./Leonardtown) rounded out the team's top five scorers as Carey placed 238th in 30:12, averaging a 5:50-minute mile.

Seahawk Finishers (328 runners): 135. Dan Swain (131st for team scoring), 187. Matt Bennett (181st for team scoring), 215. Collin Hickey (208th for team scoring), 223. Nick Pasko (216th for team scoring), 238. Tim Carey (230th for team scoring), 250. David Kersey (30:33), 255. Toby Hall (30:41)