Cross Country Competes at Blazers Invitational

CHICOPEE, MA - The University of New England men's and women's cross country teams each had four runners place among the top nine en route to earning championship honors in the Blazers Invitational on Saturday at Chicopee Memorial State Park.

Freshman Jessie Partlow (Hopkinton, NH) clocked a meet-record time of 19:48 in the women's 5k race to help lead the Nor'easters, who also received crucial top 10 finishes from freshman Nicole Sidropoulos (Carver, MA) (7^th, 21:18), senior Lindsey Smith (Malta, NY) (8^th, 21:20) and senior Kaitlyn Direnzo (Buxton, ME) (9^th, 21:28).

Partlow beat the previous record of 19:54 set by Mount Ida's Megan Hogan last season. Lesley sophomore Charlotte Goff (Osterville, MA) was second in 19:59 and Elms College senior Jill Bigos (South Hadley, MA) (20:50) was third.

The Nor'easters tallied 34 points to narrowly edge Lesley, who finished with 36 points. St. Joseph (CT) (114), Newbury (153), Pine Manor (179), Bay Path (194), Mount Ida (212) and Wheelock (230) rounded out the scoring teams.

The Rams top female finisher was freshman Meredith Hoban (Norwood, MA) who crossed the line 15^th in a time of 22:02.2.  She was followed by classmate Heather Stumpf (Attleboro, MA) who finished in 23:49.7 and sophomore Allison Wooler (New Bedford, MA) who finished in a time of 24:52.9.

In the men's 8k race, Newbury senior Herrel Siller (Palo Alto, CA) cruised to victory in a time of 27:45 to break his previous meet-record set last season by 24 seconds and outlast Lesley senior Fran Cusick (Lexington, MA), who finished in 28:04.

Sophomore Matt Viega (Lynn, MA) placed third in 28:41 for the Nor'easters, who scored 28 points to easily outdistance Eastern Nazarene (56), Newbury (63) and Elms College (118).

Freshman Bosco Oringa (Portland, ME) (7^th, 30:38), and sophomores Josh Havelin (Seneca Falls, NY) (8^th, 30:42), Dan Kelleher (Norton, MA) (9^th, 30:50) and Josh Grenier (Otisfield, ME) (10^th, 31:05) sealed championship honors for the Nor'easters.

Eastern Nazarene received solid top five finishes from seniors Luke Dodge (Sagamore Beach, MA) (4^th, 29:55) and Chris Reilly (Keene, NH) (5^th, 30:07).

The Rams were led by freshman Drew Duquette (Holyoke, MA) who crossed the line 11^th in a time of 32:26.5.  Duquette's finish was the best finish for a Framingham State men's runner since 1999.  Matt Rijk (Wayland, MA) and Brian Dagley (Tyngsboro, MA) also had solid days for the Rams as they finished 25^th and 27^th respectively.

Complete meet results can be found by going to http://athletics.elms.edu/news/2008-09/BlazersXCInv.