New England College Roundup #5

Similar to the hectic high school league meet festivities that occurred last week in Massachusetts, the final weekend of October is an equally exciting time on the NCAA calendar; it's an action-packed 72 hours of heated conference meet battles among all divisions in the NCAA. From the ACC Championship in Tallahassee, FL, to the UAA Championship right in Franklin Park, we saw numerous Massachusetts runners toeing the line to chase after PRs, crucial team points, and bragging rights for the year to come. We'll give you a run down of all the major action and strong results put up by talented Massachusetts runners.

America East Championship @ Stony Brook University

It was an historic weekend at the 2015 America East Championship for the men of UMass Lowell. After being at the top of the pile for many years as an NCAA DII team, three years ago UMass Lowell made the transition to becoming a DI program. The transition is never an easy road, but after only three years the River Hawk men claimed the first ever America East Championship title in school history. As it has been the case all year, Bobby Allen and Paul Hogan(Burlington HS) led the charge for UMass Lowell. This duo has been a fantastic 1-2 punch all season long for Lowell and, on Saturday, Allen took 2nd in 24:48 and Hogan was right behind in 3rd, running 24:50. The next harriers across the line in Blue and Red were Zach Ganshirt (Walpole HS) and John Abraham (Lowell HS). Ganshirt clocked in at 25:32 for 10th and Abraham was right behind in 25:34 for 11th --both also earned All-Conference honors. Lowell's five through seven runners secured team supremacy for Lowell, which consisted of Dhahran Velasquez in 16th place,Connor Doyle (Bishop Hendricken HS) in 29th and Chris Skelly (North Middlesex HS) in 39th place. Once the scores were tallied, UMass Lowell easily claimed their first title conference with 42 points, well ahead of 2nd -place Stony Brook's 74 points.

Since joining the America East Conference over three years ago, the Lady River Hawks have also been on a strong upward trajectory. On Saturday, this especially young squad secured 4th place in the team race, which bested their 6th -place performance last year and 9th-place finish in 2013. Jaclyn Solimine (Haverhill HS) led the ladies from Lowell with her 6TH -place, 18:48 performance, which certainly bettered her 27th -place finish at the 2014 America East Conference Meet. Not too far behind Solimine was the underclassmen duo of Allie Morris (Walpole HS) and Kathryn Loughnane (North Attleborough HS). Morris was the top first-year finisher, putting up a strong time of 19:00and finishing 10th overall, and Loughnane was right behind in 11th place, running 19:05. All three of Lowell's front-runners secured their first All-Conference accolades. Wrapping up the scoring for the Lady River Hawks were two more first-year runners: Rachel Eatherton (Tewksbury HS) and Abby Hogan (Cardinal Spellman). This duo crossed the line almost simultaneously, as Eatherton ran 19:59 to take 35th and Hogan ran 20:01 for 36th. With three freshmen in the top five and five in the top seven, the Ladies of UMass Lowell undoubtedly have a bright future in the years to come.

UAA Championship @ Franklin Park

This past Saturday was an absolutely gorgeous morning for racing at the historic Franklin Park. Playing host to the 2015 UAA Championship, hometown favorite Brandeis was looking to rely heavily on their intimate knowledge of the grueling course.

Though only in her first year of collegiate running, Emily Bryson of Brandeis is well versed in the twists and turns of Franklin Park, as last year the former North Quincy runner put up a strong 4th -place finish in the D1 race at high school All-States. Almost a year to the date, Bryson returned to Franklin Park once again and this time she was up against some talented runners in the competitive D3 UAA Conference. While the difficult course usually breaks up the field before the final homestretch, we were treated to a spectacular show in the final hundred meters of this year's Championship 6k Race. Coming off the turn around the backstop, Bryson found herself neck-and-neck with fellow freshman Khia Kurtenbach of U Chicago. In the final strides of the race, Bryson pulled narrowly ahead, securing her first UAA Individual title. The official results gave Bryson a finishing time of 22:03.12 and Kurtenbach of Chicago a time of 23:03.44. After a thrilling performance by Bryson, the Judges saw Maddie Dolins next across the line in 22:28for 12th place. The remaining scorers for Brandeis were Kelsey Whitaker (Notre Dame Academy HS) in 28th place running 23:02, Kate Farrell clocking at 23:05 for 29th, and Julia Bryson (North Quincy HS), grabbing the 5th spot for Brandeis in a time of 23:07 for 32nd place overall. Due to the big finish by Bryson and the strong effort by the rest of the Brandeis squad, the Lady Judges bettered last year's 8th place finish and took a strong 4th place overall with 102 points.

Want to watch Emily Byron's amazing finish kick? Check it out HERE !

A-10 Championship @ Richmond University

At this point of the season, any good coach will tell you to throw rankings out the window and go race. That must have been what longtime UMass coach Ken O'Brien told his men's squad prior to the 2015 A-10 Championship on Saturday. Coming into Saturday's meet the Minutemen were unranked in their region going up against Mid-Atlantic #7 LaSalle, #13 Duquesne, and #14 Saint Joseph's.

This would do little to deter the men from UMass, however, as we saw them put up their best conference finish since 2009. Leading the maroon and white as he has been doing all season long, Ben Groleau (Framingham HS) put up a spectacular 2nd -place finish with his time of 24:41. That finish by Groleau certainly secures himself a spot in UMass XC history, as it was the best finish ever by a UMass runner at the A-10 Conference meet. Grabbing his first A-10 All-Conference honors, Paolo Tavares (New Bedford HS) finished 12th overall and crossed the line in 24:59. A few seconds behind Taveres, the next UMass runner was Dan Sheldon running 25:05 for 17th place. Closing out the five scoring runners for the Minutemen were Sam Conway (Minnechaug HS) at 25:13 for 24th place and Jay McMahon (Joseph Case HS) in 43rd with a time of 25:31.

After the final scores were tallied, UMass found themselves putting up a total of 98 points and finishing in a very strong 2nd place overall.

Having themselves an equally impressive day at the A-10 Conference Meet was the women's squad from UMass. Though she has been known for her superb half-mile speed, Heather MacLean (Peabody HS) has been a strong frontrunner all season long for the Minutewomen. That would certainly be the case once again on Saturday, as MacLean was able to hold off a fast charging pack of conference foes and take 2nd overall in 17:20. The next UMass harrier across the line would be senior, Carly Zinner who secured A-10 Conference honors with her 17:44 15th place performance. After Zinner, Collen Sands (Wachusett HS) would be the #3 runner for UMass and come across the line 18:06 and 25th place. The final scoring runners for the Minutewomen would be Deirdre Martyn (North Andover HS) in a time of 18:10 for 31st and Natalie Mako in 18:25 to take 38th place.

In a very tight team race, UMass women would find themselves in a tie-breaker for 3rd place and eventually would finish 4th with 111 points after tie-breaking procedures. This was still a very excellent day for Ladies of UMass, as it was better than last year's 6th place finish and their best program finish since 2009 when the finished 3rd overall.


NESCAC Championship @ Wesleyan University

In similar conditions to Franklin Park on Saturday morning, it was a picture perfect day for racing at the 2015 NESCAC Championship hosted by Wesleyan University.

This meeting of legendary conference foes would begin with a big match up between three highly ranked women's squads: US#2 Williams, US#4 Tufts, and US#7 Middlebury. After some initial strong front running by very talented freshman, Abigail Nader of Middlebury and a dominant trio from Williams, we would see the winning move come out of nowhere in the final half mile. Charging past the previously mentioned competitors, Lizzie Lacy of Amherst stormed home to cross the line in 21:48 and win by over six seconds. Nader of Middlebury hung on to take 2nd in 21:54, while the Williams trio of: Lacey Serletti, Hannah Cole, and Victoria Kingham all finished within nine seconds of each other for 3rd-- 5th place. After this show of force by Williams, we would see Audrey Gould (Amherst HS) and Kelly Fahey come across the line in 6th and 7th for Tufts. Though Williams would put two more runners in the Top 10 with Anna Harleen running 22:09 to take 8th and Emily Sundquist finishing 10th in 22:15. Alanna McDonough (Governors Academy) of Colby would break up the duo by finishing 9th overall in 22:09.

After putting all five of their scoring runners in the Top 10, Williams easily secured the team title with 30 points. The ladies from Tufts put up a strong showing as well, seeing as they put five in the Top 20 and finished 2nd overall with 66 points. Middlebury would settle for 3rd with 92 points.

In the men's race we would be treated to yet another fine dual between two top DIII runners, Bijan Mazaheri (Wellesley HS) and Mohamed Hussein (Northfield Mount Hermon). These two talented runners have put on quite a show this fall and Saturday turned out to be another excellent performance. Waiting until the final stages of the race, Hussein would make a decisive move over Mazaheri and go on to win his first career NESCAC title in an impressive time of 24:43. Mazaheri would hang tough to take 2nd and also put up a very strong time of 24:49. The next finisher across the line would be Amherst senior, Dan Crowley (Ludlow HS) in a time of 25:01. Keeping with the pattern, Ben Decker of Williams would take 4th place overall with his time of 25:07. After Decker, Tufts would have Luke O'Connor and Tim Nichols go 5-6 in 25:09 and 25:11 respectively. The Ephs of Williams would have two more runners in the Top 10, as Peter Hale (Swampscott HS) took 7th place overall with his time of 25:19 and Griffin Colaizzi finished 9th with his time of 25:25.

In similar circumstances to the women's team race, the Ephs of Williams would dominate the men's race. In the final results, Williams would put all five of their scoring runners in the Top 15 and walk away with 36 points to win their 4thconsecutive NESCAC team title. Amherst men would finish 2nd overall with 61 points and the Jumbos of Tufts took 3rdwith 99 points.