10/29/2006 - (Riverdale, NY) - Throw every cliche in the book at Head Coach Michael Murphy and the Mount Saint Vincent Men's and Women's Cross Country teams, and none of them will do justice to their accomplishments this weekend, and in the bigger picture this season. A year ago, Mount Saint Vincent did not participate in Cross Country. And even with a team this season, the combined Cross Country experience among the two teams barely measured up to the seasoned competition they faced every time they took to a course. In other words, just having a team was victory enough for Murphy and company, but somebody forgot to tell them that ... particularly on Sunday. At the Skyline Conference Cross Country Championships at Van Cortlandt Park, Mount Saint Vincent not only impressed their competition, they left them gasping in awe.

Senior Teresa Escobar (Highland Falls, NY/O'Neill HS) finished fifth and junior Erin Davies (Islip, NY/Islip HS) placed 16th as the Mount Saint Vincent Women's Cross Country team earned an incredible third place finish, while the Men's team - led by junior Derek Charlton (Yonkers, NY/St. Raymond's) and freshman Lester Owens (Munulupun, NJ/St. Joseph's-Metuchen) - finished a respectable sixth out of eight teams competing.

Escobar was the story of the day as she earned All-Conference honors among a field of seasoned Cross Country competitors despite having never run a Cross Country race until only a few weeks ago. Her performance was so dominant that she has qualified for next Saturday's ECAC Cross Country Championships at Williams College in Massachusetts. Davies, along with senior Danielle Trovato  (North Huntingdon, PA/Greenberg Central Catholic), senior Sarah Sheridan (Hicksville, NY/Our Lady of Mercy), and freshman Nicole Foy (Levittown, NY/Division Ave. HS) ran solidly and were a huge factor in the Mount's third place finished.

For the Men's team, Charlton finished a solid 18th, running a personal best time of 31:28, while Owens finished 25th and freshman Eric Lastres (Bayside, NY/Molloy) finished 39th.

Mount Saint Vincent's season did not end on Sunday as the Dolphins will still compete in the HVMAC and HVWAC Championships that were postponed due to inclement weather on Saturday. A make-up date will be scheduled shortly.