WENTHAM, Mass. - History was made at the Pop Crowell Invitational, as the Lesley University men's cross country team earned a team score for the first time ever in the four years of the program's existence.
The Lynx finished with a team score of 512, which was good for 20th out of 24 teams. Just ahead of Lesley was fellow New England Collegiate Conference member Newbury College (501) who finished in 18th place as a team. Winning the race in team scoring was the University of Southern Maine (58) followed by Westfield State (82), Roger Williams (91), Gordon (136), and Mass Maritime (198).
Lesley's top runner was Fran Cusick (Lexington, Mass.) who finished in 12th overall with a time of 27:18, a time which was 51 seconds faster than his previous best in 2007. Cusick was followed by Brian Axelrod (River Vale, N.J.), Matthew Hunt (Dracut, Mass.), Ben Arcangeli (Westborough, Mass.), and Ethan LaFleur.
"The men placed as a team for the first time in the history of the program," commented Head Coach Dan Flynn. "As a team, they can start building a foundation and focus on doing some damage in the conference championship. I am excited to see what they can accomplish together as opposed to what they already accomplished as individuals."
On the women's side, seven runners ran personal bests en route to a 12th place finish out of 25 as a team. The Lynx scored 286 points as a team. Westfield State (49) won the race followed by Wellesley (75), Roger Williams (122), Gordon (125), and Saint Anselm (162).
Charlotte Goff (Osterville, Mass.), Meredith Rothstein (West Hartford, Conn.), Heather Peng (Palo Alto, Calif.), Jasmine Cuevas (Bristol, N.H.), Elise Huebner (Washington, Mass.), Anna Pless (Atlanta, Ga.), and Rachel Federico (Salem, Mass.) all clocked in with personal bests.
Goff led the way with a time of 19:33 which was good for 7th overall. Goff also beat Jesse Parlow from University of New England, who had finished ahead of her at the Blazer Invitational last weekend.
"I was impressed with the women this week. I consider the race a success anytime there are seven runners who run their best time of their life. We placed well as a team even without one of our most reliable runners."
The Lynx will be back in action on October 11 against Roger Williams at the Colt State Park starting at 10:00 am.
To learn more about the Lesley University men's and women's cross country teams, please visit their website.
Contact:
Rob Palardy
Sports Information Director
Lesley University
617.349.8627 (office)
617.349.8640 (fax)
rpalardy@lesley.edu