Women's Cross Country Finishes Fourth at Blazers Invitational
Chicopee, Mass. – The Framingham State University women's cross country team finished fourth , but Johnson & Wales University placed four runners in the top five in the men's race while the University of New England (UNE) had three runners finish in the top five in the women's race to help pace their respective teams to victory in Saturday afternoon's Blazers Invitational cross country event at Chicopee Memorial State Park.
In the men's 8-kilometer race, Johnson & Wales posted a team score of 20 to claim top honors with UNE placing second with a combined score of 47. American International College (AIC) finished third with 79 points, Lasell College tallied 120 points to finish fourth, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) notched 135 points for fifth place, Johnson State College finished sixth with 144 points and Elms College placed seventh with 179 points. Newbury College, Framingham State University, Eastern Nazarene College and Hampshire College did not register a team score.
Johnson & Wales' James Vance (Newton, Mass.) was the top overall finisher for the men, clocking a time of 27:28. The Wildcats also claimed second and third place with Jeff Hartman (Osseo, Minn.) registering a time of 27:56 and Greg Redfield (Penfield, N.Y.) finished in a time of 28:10.
In the women's 5-kilometer race, UNE scored a total of 25 points to capture first place honors; Johnson & Wales finished second (93) and AIC placed third (104). Framingham State earned fourth place honors with a score 126 while Lasell narrowly out-legged St. Joseph College (Conn.) for fifth place honors as the Lasers posted a 143 and the Blue Jays a 144. MCLA finished seventh (172), Mount Ida College came in eighth (178), Wheelock College (225) placed ninth, Curry College finished 10th (246), Eastern Nazarene finished 11th (302), Elms earned 12th place (308) and Bay Path College notched 13th place with 375 points. Newbury, Johnson State and Hampshire did not record team scores.
AIC's MJ Ohoueu (Paris, France) secured top individual honors for the women running to a time of 19:50. UNE's Colleen Ahern (Salem, Conn.) was just behind with a 19:58 to garner second place honors while teammate Jess Partlow (Hopkinton, N.H.) (20:28) came in third.
Framingham State's top finisher in the women's race was freshman Katherine Anderson (Uxbridge, Mass.), who finished in a time of 21:04. Following close behind in 13th was fellow freshman Elena Cox (Rowley, Mass.) who crossed the line in 21:18.
The Rams return to the course next week at the Tri-State Invitational hosted by CCRI.