Matthew Graham

Congratulations to former FirstPoint USA client, Matthew Graham was named to the ALL-BIG-EAST team for the third straight year! Article from depaulbluedemons.com In Saturday's BIG EAST Cross Country Championship races held at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park in Louisville, it was again DePaul senior Matthew Graham who led the way for the Blue Demons. Graham placed fourth in the men's race, earning him a spot on the All-BIG EAST team for the third year in a row. As a team, the Blue Demon men placed ninth for the third consecutive season, tying their best overall program finish. The DePaul women took home 14th place overall in their 6K run. In the men's 8K race, the BIG EAST Championship's top six runners were all seniors--separated by less than 25 seconds. Blue Demons senior Graham was edged out for third place in a photo finish with Louisville's Matthew Hughes. Hughes' 23:38.2 8K time was just two-hundredths of a second faster than Graham, who took fourth in his final conference championship. Running at a 4:46 pace, the Glasgow, Scotland, native's finish was less than 20 seconds behind conference champion Eric Finan of Cincinnati (23:17.7). Although Graham's fourth place finish was one spot behind his third place result last season--Graham improved his time by 1:30 on Louisville's fast-paced course. Of his four BIG EAST Championship races, Graham's 2011 run marked his top time. In 2009, Graham became DePaul's first All-Conference cross country runner when he placed 14th with a time of 25:17. In his first BIG EAST Championship race during his freshman season, Graham ran a 26:43 8K time.