Oct. 20, 2009

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. - For the second time following as many races, Navy men's cross country members Andrew Hanko (Jr./Montville, N.J.) and Dean Black (Fr./Colorado Springs, Colo.) were named the Patriot League Runner and Rookie of the Week, respectively, it was announced by the league office on Tuesday afternoon.

With the help of Hanko and Black, Navy defeated Army in the Star Meet on Friday at West Point, 19-41. It was Navy's 10th N-Star victory against the Black Knights over the last-13 years and the largest margin of victory against its service academy rivals since a 15-46 triumph in 2002.

For the second time this fall, Hanko led all runners across the finish line, this time with a 25:20.9 clocking on a cold and windy afternoon. His time was 13.5 seconds ahead of teammate James Pearson (So./Bloomfield Hills, Mich.), who placed second overall. Hanko completed the race 20.0 seconds ahead of Army's top finisher, Zac Reiter, who landed in fourth place.

The weekly recognition for Hanko is the third in as many races, joining Army's Jonathan Anderson in 2008 as the only other runner in Patriot League history to accomplish the feat. Hanko has been distinguished as Patriot League Runner of the Week four times this fall and five times during his career - both of which are Patriot League records.

Meanwhile, Black rounded out Navy's scoring five for the second-straight race with a seventh-place time of 25:45.6. The Navy freshman out-ran Army's top rookie finisher, Kevin Russell, by 1:27.5.

Black is the first runner in Patriot League history to earn weekly rookie-of-the-week kudos in back-to-back races.

The Midshipmen (1-0) will begin the championship portion of their season on Saturday, Oct. 31, when they head up to Hamilton, N.Y., for the Patriot League Championship. Navy tied for the league title one season ago and was tabbed as the preseason favorite to win the league crown this fall.