Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Race at Smith Invitational
NORTHAMPTON, Mass. – Elms College senior women's cross country runner Devon DeGrazia (Westport, Mass.) sprinted to a time of 22:46 to help lead the women's team to a 13th place finish and sophomore men's runner Adam Kuzdzal (Chicopee, Mass.) clocked a personal best 21:15 in the men's race on Saturday afternoon at the Smith College Invitational.
On the men's side, Ryan Moran of WPI won the individual 5-kilometer race with a time 16:26, while Westfield State University totaled 36 points to lead the field. WPI (41) placed second and the Coast Guard Academy finished third (71) to round out the top three teams of the 10 scoring squads.
Elms' senior John Southworth (Springfield, Mass.) also registered a personal best, while freshman Joshua Rolon (Chicopee, Mass.) tabbed a time of 23:41.
On the women's side, Amherst College's Lexi Sinclair garnered top individual honors in the 5-kilometer jaunt with a time of 19:28 and the Lord Jeffs took first place in the team event with 36 points. Wellesley College (49) and the Coast Guard Academy (91) rounded out the top three of the 18 scoring teams in the field.
DeGrazia's time of 22:46 was a 1:31 second improvement from her time in the event a year ago, while junior Rachel Lehouillier (Belchertown, Mass.) clocked a time of 23:28 which was 1:26 faster than her time in the event last season.
Senior Kerry Ashe (Springfield, Mass.) (25:21), junior Emily Taylor (Ludlow, Mass.) (29:44), senior Stephanie Konstantinidis (Holyoke, Mass.) (33:25) and junior Shirley Ryan (Brimfield, Mass.) (25:15) each showed tremendous improvements on their times from a year ago at the Smith Invitational.
The cross country teams are back in action on Saturday, September 14 at the Southern Vermont College Invitational in Bennington, Vt.
