WILLIAMSTOWN, MASS. 9/25/10 – The Keene State cross
country teams competed at the Williams College Purple Valley
Classic on Saturday. The KSC men placed second in the 18-team
field with 90 points while the Owl women had 264 point to finish in
10th place.
Senior Eric MacKnight (Newtown, Conn.) was the first Owl to the
finish line, placing fifth on the hilly Mount Greylock High School
course with a time of 26:30. Senior teammate Tim Pipp (Keene, N.H.)
was KSC's second man finishing seventh with a time of
26:39.
Junior Kevin Hoyt (Newtown, Conn.),who finished 19th/27:00,
sophomore Thomas Paquette (Bolton, Conn.), who placed 29th/27:11,
and sophomore Andrew Sears (Derry, N.H.) who finished in
30th place (27:11) round out the scorers for the
Owls.
Keene State, which entered the race ranked 18th nationally and
third in New England, and MIT (ranked 29th in the national poll and
fourth in New England) both finished with 90 points. The Engineers
were awarded the team title because KSC didn't have a sixth
runner in the race.
Middlebury's Michael Schmidt won the race with a time of
26:00.
Junior Andrea Walsh (Bolton, Conn.) led the Keene State women
with a 24th place (23:23) finish on the 6K course. Senior Amy Knoblock (Plymouth, Mass.) placed 36th (23:45), and sophomore
Maggie Fitter (Branford, Conn.) finished 81st (24:56). Junior
Natalie Ferro (Dennis, Mass.), who placed 86th (25:01), and junior
Haley Lydstone (Bedford, N.H.), who was in the 110th spot (25:30),
round out the KSC scorers.
Jennifer Gossels of Williams won the race with a time of
22:17. Middlebury won the women's team championship
with 57 points.
The Owls host the KSC Invitational next Saturday.
