CHICOPEE, Mass. – Lesley University senior Tyler Burns (Newton, Pa.) ran to a top-20 finish to lead the men's cross country team today at the annual Blazer Invitational hosted by Elms College. Burns averaged a 6:36 mile and covered the hilly 8k course in 32:50.
Sophomore Mike Fleming (Southwick, Mass.) crossed the line at 33:42 while freshman Matthew Mori (Natick, Mass.) finished just behind at 33:52, setting a new 8k personal-best time by nearly two minutes.
Graduate student Kolin Perry (Reno, Nev.) rounded out Lesley's efforts on the men's side with a time of 38:35.
The women's cross country team placed four runners in the top-20 and placed fourth overall with 72 total points, just four points shy of the top three.
Senior Amy Bouchard (Goffstown, N.H.) led the way for the Lynx as she finished in 11th place in a field of 79 runners with a time of 26:56 on the 6k course. Sophomore Nicole Footer (Lewiston, Maine) followed closely and was the 12th runner to cross at 27:13, shaving 17-seconds off her time from last year's event.
Juniors Alex Dimauro (Woburn, Mass.) and Jordan Penney (Eliot, Maine) crossed five seconds apart at 16th and 17th place with respective times of 27:27 and 27:32. Senior Sydney Altschuler (Durham, Conn.) bested her 2015 Blazer Invite time by nearly two minutes with a time of 28:45. Fellow senior Abbey Coppinger (Moultonborough, N.H.) came in at 29:29.
First year runners Kayla Ranere (Danbury, Conn.) and Kimberly Eldredge (Kingston, Mass.) finished at 31:35 and 31:47, respectively, ahead of sophomore Anne Cooper (Harvard, Mass.) who crossed at 32:34.
Junior Caitlin Sugrue (Rockland, Mass.) ran to a time of 35:59 and sophomore Beth Caronna (Longmeadow, Mass.) finished Lesley's day, finishing at 36:19.
Both the men's and women's teams will be off next weekend and return on Saturday, October 8th when they travel to Westfield, Mass. for the annual James Early Invitational.