Emmanuel Hosts 7th Annual Saints Cross Country Invitational
DORCHESTER, Mass. – Emmanuel College hosted the 7th Annual Saints Cross Country Invitational at Franklin Park on Friday evening. Over 300 runners represented 22 colleges and universities, with 17 women’s teams competing in the 5k race and 16 men’s teams in the 8k event. The meet featured repeat team champions in both races. Lesley University captured the women’s team championship with a combined low score of 51 points. Johnson & Wales University took the men’s title, scoring just 35 points.
DORCHESTER, Mass. – Emmanuel College hosted the 7th Annual Saints Cross Country Invitational at Franklin Park on Friday evening. Over 300 runners represented 22 colleges and universities, with 17 women’s teams competing in the 5k race and 16 men’s teams in the 8k event. The meet featured repeat team champions in both races. Lesley University captured the women’s team championship with a combined low score of 51 points. Johnson & Wales University took the men’s title, scoring just 35 points.
Rain made for a sloppy course during the women’s race, but the conditions only deteriorated as the meet progressed. Lesley University earned team honors for the second consecutive year with 51 points. Babson College placed three women in the top ten to take the second spot as a team with 61 points. Worcester State University finished just behind the Beavers in third place with 65 points. Emmanuel College picked up the fourth spot, the Saints’ best finish in recent years, with 123 points. Wheaton College earned fifth place as a team with a combined score of 130.
Lesley University sophomore Leah Miller (Thomaston, Conn.) paced the field of 162 women with a speedy 5k time of 19:39. Finishing second and third were Babson College’s Charlotte Margel (Ridgewood, N.J.) and Marina Capalbo (Gainesville, Va.), crossing the line in 19:55 and 20:15, respectively. Johnson & Wales University junior Laura Furfaro (North Warren, N.J.) ran fourth with a time of 20:47 and Lesley’s Elize McKelvey (Baltimore, Ohio) took fifth place in 20:54.
On the men’s side, the Wildcats of Johnson & Wales University placed four runners in the top ten, enroute to their second-straight team championship. The Wildcats, who were coming off a win last week in the Saint Joseph’s Maine Monks Invitational, combined for 35 points. Babson College ran three top-ten individuals and earned second place with 48 points. The Lynx of Lesley University collected third place with 131 points. Fitchburg State University locked up the fourth spot with 161 points. Despite several mid-race injuries, host Emmanuel College netted fifth place with 171 points.
Salem State University senior Alex Gomes (Peabody, Mass.) earned individual honors at the Saints Invitational for the second-straight year. Gomes, who set a meet record in 2010, finished this year’s 8k race in 26:14, besting the field of 156 men. JWU junior Greg Redfield (Penfield, N.Y.) took second place in a time of 26:31. Freshman Robert Allen (Cranston, R.I.) represented Community College of Rhode Island in third place with a time of 26:48. The Johnson & Wales duo of Jeff Hartman (Osseo, Minn.) and Brian Dinan (Geneva, N.Y.) raced to the fourth and fifth spots with times of 27:13 and 27:47, respectively.