Fredonia senior Zakk Hess (Clyde, N.Y./North Rose-Wolcott) ran the fastest final 2,000-meter time Saturday at the NCAA Division III Atlantic Regional men's cross country meet.
Hess's fourth-place finish in a time of 25:17.3 for 8,000 meters helped carry the Blue Devils to a seventh place finish out of 40 teams.
An opening 2,000-meter time of 6:15.4 had Hess in seventh place. He fell back to 18th at the 4,000-meter mark, held that spot for the next 2,000 meters, then closed with a final split of 6:05.6 – and pick up 14 places in the process. The closing time was 2.6 seconds faster than race winner Matt Giannino of Rochester Institute of Technology.
The fourth-place finish earned Hess NCAA all-region recognition plus a spot in the NCAA Division III men's championship race next Saturday.
Among other Blue Devils, senior Chris Shartrand and (Ballston Lake, N.Y./Shenendehowa) and junior Kyle Collins (Suffern, N.Y./Suffern) finished 41st and 44th, respectively. Each of them flirted with a Top 35 finish, which would have earned them all-region recognition. Collins was 34th after the first 2,000 meters while Shartrand was 37th after the first two splits.
Completing Fredonia's scoring were sophomore Cody Martini (Palmyra, N.Y. / Palmyra-Macedon) in 52nd and senior Jed Kovalovsky (Lisle, N.Y./Owego) in 57th. They followed by freshman Jack Erhard (Syracuse/West Genesee) in 141st and sophomore Bobby Cooper (Macedon/Gananda) in 142nd out of a field of 285.
St. Lawrence won the team championship followed by Geneseo, Cortland, RPI, Oneonta, and the Blue Devils.
The race was run over the Genesee Valley Park course and hosted by the University of Rochester.
