Everyone knows by now that the Boston University hockey team lost two games to rivals Boston College and the University of Maine this past weekend. Fortunately, the Terriers were on the winning end of a lesser known cross country rivalry, as junior Jochen Dieckfoss added to his impressive resume by edging out archrival Dan Hocking of the University of New Hampshire for a fourth place finish at the NCAA Northeast Regional Meet at Van Cortlandt Park, N.Y.
With his performance, Dieckfoss qualified for the NCAA Championships as an individual. The top four finishers who are not on qualifying teams will be in Terre Haute, Ind. on Nov. 25 to race for the national title.
Dieckfoss was the second such finisher, behind only winner Tom McArdle of Dartmouth College and Brookline. BU Coach Bruce Lehane called McArdle ‘one of the better runners in the country.’
‘This will be Jochen’s third trip to Nationals,’ Lehane said. ‘Hopefully he will have a good race out there.’
Dieckfoss finished the 10-kilometer (6.2-mile) course with a time of 30:27, only 23 seconds behind McArdle and two seconds ahead of his rival Hocking, who finished fifth. Like in the America East Championships, Dieckfoss and Hocking ran most of the race together, but the Terrier leader had a better kick in the end. The two will get another chance to battle next week in Terre Haute.
In contrast with Dieckfoss’s performance, the BU men were less than outstanding in the Bronx on Saturday. They finished 16th out of 33 teams in the race and did not qualify for the NCAA meet. Injuries that kept senior captain Jordan Jones (leg) and sophomore Dan Coval (foot) out of the race were partially to blame.
Seniors Rob Wong (68th, 32:43), Paul Morrice (85th, 33:08) and Liam Revell (120th, 33:52) followed Dieckfoss. Freshman Mike Fisher closed out the scoring, finishing 184th with a time of 35:53. The Terriers did finish one place ahead of the University of Maine, a team they tied at the America East Championships.
‘We weren’t really in the hunt for the team title,’ Lehane said. ‘We were just looking to have Jochen make it, and he did.’
It was a similar story on the women’s side, as the Terriers also failed to qualify for the NCAA meet. The BU women finished seventh in the 36 team field, where only the top two teams qualify for Nationals. The northeast region failed to claim any of the 13 at-large bids that are handed out nationally, as well.
‘We were hoping to run a little better,’ Lehane said. ‘But we probably ran about as well as we have all year.’
The front BU pack was a little more spread out than it has been in recent weeks. Freshman Jessica Iannacci paced the Terriers, finishing 24th out of 238 runners with a time of 21:50. Sophomore Dina Mijuskovic was four seconds and four places behind. Senior Sherida Bird was next (46th, 22:24). Kate O’Neill of Yale University won the race at 20:45.
The Terrier women finished just ahead of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, the same team they beat for their seventh straight America East Championship on Nov. 2.
Graduate student Charlotte Coffey (50th, 22:26) and sophomore Julia Nazzer (73rd, 22:59) closed out the scoring for BU.
‘We were somewhat disappointed,’ Lehane said. ‘But it just was not in the cards for us this year.’