KEENE, N.H. 10/10/09 - Both Keene State College men's and women's cross country teams had a tough time navigating through the Franklin Park trails at the New England Championships held in Boston on Saturday.

            The Keene State men finished 17th with 492 points while the Owl women placed 24th with 716 points.

            Senior Jared Samuel (Londonderry, N.H.) was the top finisher for the Owls, placing 42nd on the five mile course with a time of 25:38.  He was followed to the finish line by juniors Eric MacKnight (Newtown, Conn.), who finish in 75th place (25:55) and Brandon Schillemat (Nelson, N.H.) who was 84th (26:04) Sophomore Kevin Hoyt (Newton, Conn.), who was 95th (26:11) and junior Jeff Trethewey (Merrimack, N.H.), placing 196th (27:03) round out the scorers for the Owls.

            Glarius Rop of AIC won the race with a time of 24:22.  UMass-Lowell won the team championship with 93 points.

            Sophomore Andrea Walsh (Bolton Conn.) was the top finisher for the KSC women on the 5K course, placing 93rd with a time of 19:21.  The remaining scorers for the Owls included senior Rita Marcotte (Heath, Mass.) (104th/19:30), sophomore Paige Mills (Keene, N.H.) (130th/19:46), junior Amy Knoblock (Plymouth, Mass.) (164th/20:02), and freshman Maggie Fitter (Branford, Conn.) (225th/20:56).

            Maine's Corey Conner won the race with a time of 17:36 while Brown University took home the team title with 130 points.

            Keene State takes a week off before racing at the RPI Invitational on Oct. 24.