Story courtesy of Rob Palardy, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information

CHICOPEE, Mass. - The Lesley University men's and women's cross country teams finished ahead of all other competing New England Collegiate Conference schools at the Blazer Invitational this past Saturday.  Both teams finished in third place as a team behind tough non-conference schools.

Lesley's Fran Cusick (LEXINGTON, Mass./Arlington Catholic) and Noa Kupfer (WOODBRIDGE, Conn./Amity Regional) both crossed the finish line in second place overall in their respective races.

Cusick clocked in at 27:12, eight seconds behind the number one runner from Johnson & Wales. 

Kupfer was two seconds off University of New England's top runner with a time of 19:44.  She broke the Lesley record at the Blazer Invitational previously held by Charlotte Goff who had a time of 19:59.80 in 2008.

Several runners from both Lynx teams had personal bests on this day including captain Janice Catalano (SANDWICH, Mass./Sandwich) who finished at 24:40, Elissa May (MIDDLEBORO, Mass./Middleboro) who beat her personal best by a whole minute with 21:44, and men's runner Gus Peluso (MIDDLETOWN, Md./Middletown) who also beat his personal best by a minute with 34:20.

The men's team finished in third place with 80 points behind University of New England (45) and Johnson & Wales (23).  The women's team finished in third place with 61 points just behind Johnson & Wales (53) and University of New England (19).

Lesley will next run in the Pop Crowell Invitational at Gordon College on Saturday, October 3 starting at 10:00 am.

To learn more about the Lesley University men's and women's cross country programs, please visit their website.