October 22, 2005

PHILADELPHIA - New Jersey Institute of Technology freshman Umar Saeed dominated the field at the annual Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference cross country championship race, finishing first, nearly 47 seconds ahead of Bloomfield's Walter Tum, who was defending his 2004 championship.

Saeed, who finished second in his first college race on September 10, has won all six of his races since and was honored as CACC men's Runner of the Year and Newcomer of the Year for winning the 2005 race on the 8,000-meter Belmont Plateau course.

The NJIT freshman covered the course in 26:39.71 on Saturday, while Tum came in at 27:26.18. Tum's course record time of 26:37.55, set last year, held up by less than three seconds against Saeed's bid.

The Highlanders Pierre Bastie placed third in the race, coming in at 27:40.73--about 14 seconds after Tum.

The next three NJIT runners finished in the top 25. Duc Tran was 21st at 30:08.81, followed by Matthew Magnifico (23rd; 30.31.93) and David Kloc (25th at 30:51.43).

The NJIT runners competed as individuals, but the team was not listed in the team rankings due to the fact that NJIT is in its last year as a member of the CACC.