Men Finish Sixth, Women 11th at Blazers Cross Country Invitational
CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms sophomore men's runner Jesse Zina (Springfield, Mass.) clocked a personal-best for the course with a time of 33:05, and women's runner Rachel Lehouillier (Belchertown, Mass.) finished in a time of 22:46 in Saturday's Blazers cross country invitational at Chicopee Memorial State Park.
Conor McCloskey of Rhode Island College was the top individual finisher in the men's 8-kilometer race sprinting to a time of 27:49. Johnson & Wales University's Brian Dinan and Greg Redfield finished in second and third with times of 27:57 and 28:47 respectively.
Redfield still owns the course record (27:04) which he set in 2009.
The University of New England (UNE) finished as the top team on the men's side with 35 points, followed by Johnson & Wales (37), Rhode Island (55), Johnson State College (125), Lasell College (127), Elms (179) and Eastern Nazarene College (186). Salve Regina University, Newbury College, Hampshire College and Wheelock College did not register team scores.
For the women, Jess Partlow of UNE crossed the finish line first with a time of 19:31 in the women's 5-kilometer race followed by Salve Regina's Caroline Norton (19:49) and UNE's Colleen Ahern (20:01).
Salve Regina won the women's race as a team, totaling 31 points, followed by UNE (35), Rhode Island (112), Johnson & Wales (115), Lasell (127), Massachusetts Maritime Academy (218), Curry College (246), Mount Ida College (247), Eastern Nazarene (292), Newbury (298), Elms (299), St. Joseph College (Conn.) (303), Bay Path College (324), Johnson State (326) and Wheelock (357).
Zina led the Blazers' men's team finishing 29th overall in the field of 64 runners, followed by senior Benjamin Kronlund (Longmeadow, Mass.) (38:10), freshman Jessie Murray (Springfield, Mass.) (44:38), senior Michael Desmond (Nashua, N.H.) (48:00) and freshman Nicholas Green (Ware, Mass.).
On the women's side, Lehouillier placed 39th in the field of 141, while freshman Meghan Sullivan (Springfield, Mass.) (26:37), senior Jennifer Cicero (Chicopee, Mass.) (27:36), sophomore Kerry Ashe (Springfield, Mass.) (28:17), sophomore Gabrielle Calvanese (Agawam, Mass.) (28:21), freshman Emily Taylor (Ludlow, Mass.) (28:25), senior Beck Boisseau (Chicopee, Mass.) (29:27), freshman Madison Boehm (Sutton, Mass.) (33:12) sophomore Stephanie Konstantinidis (Holyoke, Mass.) (35:41) and sophomore Sarah Jane Dyer (Hinsdale, Mass.) rounded out Elms' squad.
Elms returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 8 at the James Earley Invitational hosted by Westfield State University.
