NASHUA, NH –Saint Joseph's College placed sixth with 148 points in the 2012 GNAC Men's Cross Country Championship on Saturday afternoon. Junior Faisal Abdillahi (Lewiston, Maine) paced the Monks and finished 16th out of 84 runners with a 28:11 performance.

Featuring three of the top seven runners, Norwich University cruised to the squad's first GNAC title since the 2007 campaign with 44 team points, 15 better than runner-up Emmanuel College. Johnson & Wales University, winners of the last four GNAC Championship meets, placed third with 61 points while Emerson College (97), Lasell College (120), Saint Joseph's (148) and meet-host Rivier University (213) also competed in the annual event.

Albertus Magnus College, Anna Maria College, Mount Ida College and Suffolk University also featured individual runners in this year's conference championship.

Johnson & Wales senior Jeff Hartmann (Osseo, Minn.) claimed top individual accolades for the second-consecutive season after touring the 8K course in 25:51, which ranks as the third-fastest time ever posted in the GNAC Championship meet and best since 2000. Hartmann's effort was 46 seconds faster than Emerson's Kyle Oppenheimer (Kingston, N.H.), who earned runner-up honors with a 26:37 time.

Norwich freshman Adam Miller (Claremont, N.H.) placed third (26:40), Johnson & Wales junior Brian Dinan (Geneva, N.Y.) was fourth (26:42) and Lasell freshman Alex Weselcouch (East Haddam, Conn.) rounded out the top five individuals with a 26:46 effort.

For the Monks, Joe DiSalvo (Derry, N.H.) finished 20th (28:22), Andrew Caron (Gardiner, Maine) was 46th (30:12) and Taidghe Hagan (Reading, Mass.) placed 61st (32:07). Sam Dunay (Groton, Conn.) (32:44, 63), Jeff Merrill (Fitchburg, Mass.) (33:13, 65), Billy Brooks (33:17, 66), Bryndon Page (Windham, Maine) (34:34, 71) and Mark McCarraher (Franklin, Mass.) (37:13) also competed in the GNAC Championship. 

2012 GNAC Men's Cross Country All-Conference Team