WESTFIELD, Mass. --  Bridgewater State University captured its fourth Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Men's Cross Country title by posting a seven-point victory over runner-up and defending champion Westfield State University in the 2010 league championship race held Saturday morning at Stanley Park.

The Bears placed five runners in the top 13 to post a team score of 45 points and best the Owls' total of 52 points, as Westfield State had three individuals in the top nine and placed all five scorers in the top 17 overall.  Fitchburg State University (75 points) finished in third place, while the Massachusetts Maritime Academy (106 points) and Worcester State University (131 points) followed in fourth and fifth place, respectively.  Salem State University (140 points) and MCLA (174 points) rounded out the team scoring in sixth and seventh place, respectively.

Salem State junior Alex Gomes (Peabody, Mass.) took the conference individual title with a time of 25:36.02 over the 8K layout, as he bested Bridgewater State sophomore Stephen Wahome (Lowell, Mass.) by just over six seconds (25:42.22) in the runner-up spot.  Fitchburg State juniors Matt Spano (Gardner, Mass.) and Chris Kibler (Bath, Maine) finished in third and fourth place, respectively, with times of 25:53.11 and 25:54.23, while the Westfield State tandem of junior Jonathan Joyce (Milford, Mass.) and freshman Tevin Honohan (New Bedford, Mass.) were next in fifth and sixth place with respective times of 27:02.67 and 27:09.45. 

Bridgewater State sophomore David Phipps (Attleboro, Mass.) finished seventh with a time of 27:09.45, while Massachusetts Maritime senior Patrick Dannaher (Arlington, Va.), Westfield State sophomore Anthony Frissora (Shrewsbury, Mass.) and Salem State senior Alex DeRosa (Saugus, Mass.) rounded out the all-conference team (top 10 individuals) in eighth, ninth and 10th place, respectively, with times of 27:10.90, 27:14.49 and 27:19.17.

Salem State's Gomes and Westfield State's Honohan earned their respective nods as MASCAC Runner and Rookie of the Year, while Bridgewater State Head Coach Jim Simoneau was honored by his peers as the 2010 Turfer MASCAC Coach of the Year.

The Bears claimed their first MASCAC crown since 2003 and their fourth in the last 13 years, as Bridgewater State had previously won the league championship in 1998, 2001 and 2003. 

All eight MASCAC institutions will compete next Saturday at the 2010 New England Alliance Championships at Moore State Park in Auburn, Mass. beginning at 11:00 a.m.

Courtesy of MASCAC Director of Media Relations, Jim Seavey