BOSTON, Mass. – Turning in its best performance of the season, the Bentley University men's cross country team finished third in a field of 25 teams at the NCAA Division II East Regional Sunday afternoon at Franklin Park.

UMass-Lowell edged Stonehill by six points, 71-77, for the team championship with both of those teams qualifying for the NCAA Division II Championships later in the month. Bentley, which finished in front of three teams it lost to in the Northeast-10 Championships two weeks ago, missed out on qualifying the nationals by just 20 points, finishing with a count of 99. The top five also included Adelphi University (109) and American International (157).

Bentley's top four finished within six places and 25 seconds of each other with junior Rob Dextradeur (Branford, Conn./Branford HS) heading the list. He posted a time of 32:13.6 over the 10,000-meter course, good for 15th place overall.

Junior Craig Robinson (Scarborough, Maine/Scarborough HS) finished immediately after Dextradeur, trailing his teammate by 10.2 seconds. Junior John Drago (Avon, Conn./Avon HS) was 19th in 32:32.5 and senior Tom Witherell (Los Alamos, N.M./Los Alamos HS) was 20th in 32:37.7.

All four earned All-Region accolades by virtue of finishing in the top 25.  Just missing that select group was Bentley's fifth man, senior Gabe Campbell (Queensbury, N.Y./Queensbury HS). He was 26th and his time of 32:46.5 left him out of the top 25 by only one second.

First-year head coach Kevin Curtin was very pleased at his team's performance. "The women's team reached the national's, but believe or not, I'm even happier for the men. Our training has been going fine but today was the first day that we were able to put it all together in a race. We've spent the season steadily dropping in the Regional rankings and deservedly so. After NE-10s, Captains Rob Dextradeur and John Drago did a tremendous job keeping people motivated and focused on Regionals. We went out conservatively and just spent the last 4 miles moving up.  It's a real nice way to end the season and this will help give us a confidence boost heading into the track season."

AIC's Glarius Rop cruished to the individual championship, winning by more than a minute over Adelphi's Andrew Coelho. Rop's winning time was a blistering 29:50.7. 

Video of finish   

NCAA DIVISION II EAST REGIONAL

At Franklin Park, Boston

Team Standings: 1. UMass-Lowell 71, 2. Stonehill 77, 3. Bentley 96, 4. Adelphi 109, 5. American International 157, 6. Southern Connecticut State 188, 7. Felician 203, 8. C.W. Post 246, 9. Philadelphia 273, 10. Molloy 275, 11. Merrimack 358, 12. St. Michael's 372, 12. New Haven 372, 14. Assumption 375, 15. St. Thomas Aquinas 390, 16. Saint Rose 423, 17. Wilmington (Del.) 440, 18. Le Moyne 464, 19. Queens (N.Y.) 469, 20. Dowling 546, 21. Saint Anselm 553, 22. Holy Family 587, 23. Nyack 597, 24. Goldey-Beacom 692, 25. Post 776

Top Individuals: 1. Glarius Rop, AIC, 29:50.7; 2. Andrew Coelho, Adelphi, 31:02.1; 3. Steve Polito, Stonehill, 31:30.4; 4. James Mee, AIC, 31:36.9; 5. Greg Wilson, UMass-Lowell, 31:44.4

Bentley Runners: 15. Rob Dextradeur, 32:13.6; 16. Craig Robinson, 32:23.8; 19. John Drago, 32:32.5; 20. Tom Witherell, 32:37.7; 26. Gabe Campbell, 32:46.5; 61. Sean Maguire, 34:12.4; 93. Conor Higgins, 35:07.4.