NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass. - At the UMass-Dartmouth Invitational, several members of the Lesley University men's and women's cross country teams recorded personal bests in a race that featured many powerhouse running programs from the northeast.
Ten Lynx runners broke their previous bests, eight from the women's side and two from the men's side.
For the women, Ella Stiler-Cote (Kennebunkport, Me.), Jasmine Cuevas (Bristol, N.H.), Elize McKelvey (Baltimore, Ohio), Audra Lydon (Burbank, Calif.), Erin Hurley (South Hampton, N.H.), Rachel Federico (Salem, Mass.), Heidi Kuchenbaur (Holden, Mass.), and Janice Catalano (Sandwich, Mass.) recorded personal bests.
The top runner on the women's team, Charlotte Goff (Osterville, Mass.) crossed the line with a time of 19:43, finishing in 64th overall in a field of 310 runners. The team as a whole tallied 768 points which was good for 26th place. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (35) won the event followed by Amherst (50), Tufts (80), Connecticut College (97) and Keene State (159).
The Lesley men gave their greatest effort in the three year existence of the program. Fran Cusick (Lexington, Mass.), the lead runner for the Lynx, topped his previous personal record by 40 seconds as he clocked in at 26:38 on the five-mile course. Cusick placed 70th out of 278 participants.
Sophomore Brian Axelrod (River Vale, N.J.) showed significant improvement since last year's visit to the UMass-Dartmouth Invitational as he crossed the finish line at 29:14 compared to 34:06 in 2007. Matthew Hunt (Dracut, Mass.) set a personal record by running 31:12 and Sam Hunt (Washington Depot, Conn.), despite battling injuries for much of the week, finished with a solid time of 31:50.
The Lynx will race again at the Blazer Invitational at Chicopee Memorial State Park hosted by Elms College. The race will start at 10:00 am.
To learn more about the Lesley University men's and women's cross country teams, please visit their website.