Graves leads SU men's team to third straight CAC championship, women finish second
YORK, Pa. - Senior Eric Graves earned the Capital Athletic Conference Male Athlete of the Year award as he led the Salisbury University men's cross country team to its third straight CAC title, seventh overall, with a first-place finish at the 2007 CAC championships on Saturday at John Rudy Park in York, Pa. First and second place in both the men's and women's championships were separated by seven points. The SU men's team edged University of Mary Washington, 26 to 33, while the Eagles took first place in the women's race with 27 points to end Salisbury's streak of three consecutive titles. The SU women's team finished in second place with 34 points.

Graves crossed the finish line first overall as he won by 30 seconds with a time of 26:04. Fellow senior Buck Stokes finished third overall and earned first-team All-CAC honors with a time of 26:44. SU's Zack Dickerson and Chris Barnard joined Graves and Stokes as first-team All-CAC runners as they finished fifth and sixth, respectively. Dickerson and Barnard were separated by a mere tenth of a second as each runner ran finished with a time of 27:02. Junior Roland Lane ran arguably his best race of the season as he finished 11th overall with a time of 27:39 to help secure the men's championship. Freshman Sam Boimov finished 12th with a time of 27:44 and junior Ben Thomas finished 15th overall with a 27:58. Lane, Boimov and Thomas were named second team All-CAC.

SU swept the three men's postseason awards as Graves was named CAC Athlete of the Year, Barnard was named CAC Rookie of the Year and SU head coach Jim Jones was named Coach of the Year.

Junior Kelly Sullivan and senior Casey McInerny finished third and fourth overall in the women's race as each runner earned first-team All-CAC honors. Sullivan (23:24) finished 27 seconds ahead of teammate McInerny (23:51) as the two led the maroon and gold. The women had five runners finish as second-team All-CAC performers as freshman Kristin Stromberg finished eight overall with a time of 24:17, senior Zuzka O'Zwoldike finished ninth overall (24:26), junior Amy DeMichele finished 10th overall (24:27), freshman Masha Berge finished 14th overall (24:42) and junior Jenn Bulger finished 15th overall (24:43).

The Sea Gulls will return to action to Saturday, November 10, as they travel to Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa., to participate in the NCAA Division III Mideast Regionals.