Boston, MA- The No. 21 Iona College men's cross country team finished first at the 2005 NCAA Northeast Regional Championships held at Franklin Park this afternoon. Senior Richard Kiplagat won the event for the second time in his career, clocking a time of 29:11 on the 10K course. The Maroon & Gold won the regional title for the third time in the last four years.

The Gaels had all five scorers finish in the top 12 and six earn All-Region honors by finishing in the top 20. Iona's 33 team points defeated second place No. 16 Dartmouth with 50. No. 30 Providence finished third (67 points). It is the fourth Northeast Regional title in program history - 1999: at Franklin Park; 2002: at Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx, NY; 2003: at Franklin Park.

Sophomore Harbert Okuti was the Gaels second finisher in fourth place at 33:03. On Okuti's heels was freshman Mohamed Khadraoui who finished sixth, four seconds behind his teammate. Sernior Stephen Chemlany finished 10th (30:17) and freshman Andrew Ledwith was 12th (30:25). Junior Adam Hortian was Iona's sixth All-Region performer with an 18th place finish (30:46).

With the win the Gaels automatically qualified for the NCAA Championship race in nine days on Monday, Nov. 21 in Terre Haute, IN. The top two teams in nine regions nationally earn automatic bids, while 13 additional teams are selected at-large.

The Gaels will be making their 11th appearance at the NCAA Cross Country Championship and eighth in nine years: 1982, 1985, 1993, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005. Last season, the Gaels were seventh at NCAA's, also held at Indiana State University in Terre Haute. Iona's best finish at the NCAA's was fourth, at the 2003 championship held in Waterloo, IA.

Iona's "B" team will take part in the IC4A/ECAC Championship at Van Cortlandt Park on Nov. 19.

Other Iona Finishers: 35. Chase Pizzoni, 31:15.

Top 10 Team Scores:
1.  IONA            33
2.  DARTMOUTH       50
3.  PROVIDENCE      67
4.  CORNELL        104
5.  BROWN          181
    COLUMBIA       181
7.  ARMY           260
8.  HARVARD        322
9.  BOSTON COLLEGE 329
10. YALE           365

Top 20 Individual Finishers:
1.  Richard Kiplagat  IONA       29:11.2
2.  Martin Fagan      PROVIDENCE 29:15.6
3.  Ben True          DARTMOUTH  30:03.8
4.  Harbert Okuti     IONA       30:03.9
5.  Max Smith         PROVIDENCE 30:05.5
6.  Mohamed Khadraoui IONA       30:07.4
7.  Alec Wall         DARTMOUTH  30:07.5
8.  Ahmed Haji        PROVIDENCE 30:10.4
9.  Mike Hanlon       COLGATE    30:11.3
10. Stephen Chemlany  IONA       30:17.6
11. Dave Burnham      DARTMOUTH  30:19.1
12. Andrew Ledwith    IONA       30:25.8
13. Ian Marcus        DARTMOUTH  30:29.0
14. Brad Baird        CORNELL    30:29.7
15. Bruce Hyde        CORNELL    30:40.3
16. Matt Davis        DARTMOUTH  30:42.2
17. Chris Burke       BROWN      30:44.0
18. Adam Hortian      IONA       30:46.9
19. Dan McKenna       BUFFALO    30:50.9
20. Sage Canaday      CORNELL    30:51.0