Lakeland, FL – Àine McMorrow (Dublin Knocklyon, Ireland) closed out her phenomenal rookie season in thrilling fashion as she finished in first place out of the 120-runner field on Friday at the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) National Championships hosted by Florida College.

The freshman covered the 6-kilometer course in 23:34, 25 seconds faster than any other runner in the field to earn SUNY Canton's first cross country individual national champion. McMorrow joins Zach Meade as the only other Roo to earn a national champion as he won the 2014 USCAA Golf national title.

Keara Byrne (Queensbury, NY) was the second SUNY Canton runner to cross the line in 46th place in a time of 28:03. Jess Nagy (Budd Lake, NJ) closed out her senior season in 70th place in a time of 30:03.

Schnyia Petteys (Porter Corners, NY) was the fourth Roo through the chute in 31:27 (79th), while Kim McCarthy (Ludlow, MA) finished the 6K in 31:49 (82nd).

The Roos finished in ninth place out of 15 competing teams, although eight other teams had competing runners but not full teams. Berea College took home the individual team title with 46 points.

Place

Name

Time

1

Àine McMorrow

23:34

46

Keara Byrne

28:03

70

Jess Nagy

30:03

79

Schynia Petteys

31:27

82

Kim McCarthy

31:49

96

Julie Angell

34:24

104

Laura DiFrenza

35:22

107

Allison Fink

36:54

108

Rachel Youngers

36:56

114

Patti Carpenter

38:09

 On the men's side Brandon McCreery (Carthage, NY)) led the charge finishing in the top 50 in a time of 31:20 (46th) over the 8-kilometer course. Luke Ducharme (Brushton, NY) was the next Roo runner to cross the line in 33:25. Matt Fortin (Liberty, NY) raced to a 90th place showing (34:29), while Shawn Deibel (Albion, NY) placed fourth for the team. Ryan Teal rounded out the top five for SUNY Canton in 38:12 (109).

Berea also won the men's team title with 25 points. SUNY Canton finished in 15th place out of the 16 team field although there were seven other teams competing with four or less finishers. 

Place

Name

Time

46

Brandon McCreery

31:20

77

Luke Ducharme

33:25

90

Matt Fortin

34:29

95

Shawn Deibel

34:59

109

Ryan Teal

38:12

118

Isaiah Gowen

41:52

123

Josh May

45:29

This completes the 2015 SUNY Canton cross country season. The women will lose senior captains Keara Byrne, Jess Nagy and Laura DiFrenza to graduation. Junior Shawn Deibel will graduate with a certificate in power sports and his Associates degree in May.Patti Carpenter (Penfield, NY) and Rachel Youngers (Evans, NY) were named to the 2015 USCAA All-Academic Team on Thursday evening for being sophomore standing or older and carrying a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher.