Cross Country Races at Western New England University Invitational
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Elms College junior Jesse Zina (Ludlow, Mass.) completed the men's 8-kilometer course in a time of 32:03.81 and junior Devon DeGrazia (Westport, Mass.) finished the women's 5-kilometer race in a time of 22:39.66 just ahead of sophomoreRachel Lehouillier (Belchertown, Mass.) (22:40.97) as the cross country teams competed at the Western New England University Invitational on Saturday in Springfield, Mass.
Babson College won the men's race with an overall score of 56, followed closely by Westfield State University with 57 points and Rhode Island College with 118 points to round out top three team finishes on the men's side. Elms' men's team did not register a score. Individually, Colby-Sawyer College's Hayden Bunnell won the event with a time of 25:40.00.
For the women, Westfield State won the team competition (41), followed by Salve Regina University (64) and Roger Williams University (136) to round out the top three teams. The Blazers finished 16th of 23 teams on Saturday. Babson's Marina Capalbo won the individual women's race with a time of 19:02.62.
Zina finished 143rd overall in the field of 204 men's runners, while freshman Adam Kuzdzal (Chicopee, Mass.) recorded a lifetime personal best time of 33:33.62. Sophomore Nick Green (Ware, Mass.) had a significant drop in time as he finished with a mark of 49:13.72.
On the women's side, DeGrazia and Lehouillier finished 98th and 99th respectively overall in the field of 212 female runners. Lehouillier's time of 22:40.97 was a season-best mark, while juniorKerry Ashe (Springfield, Mass.) and sophomore Shirley Ryan (Brimfield, Mass.) added personal best times of 24:07.78 and 26:06.94 respectively.
Freshman Emma Bernard (Springfield, Mass.) and sophomores Meghan Sullivan (Springfield, Mass.) and Maddie Boehm (Sutton, Mass.) added significant time drops of 23:43.38, 26:07.88 and 32:48.75 respectively.
Elms is back in action on Saturday, Oct. 20 at the New England Collegiate Conference Championships.
