WILLIAMSTOWN, MA 11/5/11 – Junior Tom Paquette (Bolton, Conn.) and sophomore Marie Whitney (Jaffrey, N.H.) were the first two Owl runners to the finish line for the Keene State men's and women's cross country teams respectively at the ECAC Division III Championship held at Mount Greylock High School in Williamstown, Mass. on Saturday. 

Paquette finished 12th, posting a time of 26:48 on the hilly 8K course while Whitney placed 51st with a time of 24:56 on the women's 6K course. 

In team scoring, the Keene State men finished fifth in the 44-team field with 172 points.  Williams College won its seventh straight championship with 44 points.  KSC finished 10th in the women's field with 326 points.  Middlebury College raced to its third straight title with 25 points.

Juniors Andrew Sears (Derry, N.H.) and George Stevens (Alton, N.H.) were Keene State second and third runners.  Sears finished 24th with a time of 27:23 while Stevens was three spots back in 27th place (27:29).  Other top finishers for Keene State included sophomore Ryan Widzgowski (Camden, Maine), who was 37th (27:44) and sophomore Nick Riendeau (Canterbury, N.H.),  who finished 73rd (28:29). 

A pair of freshmen Kaley Mientkiewicz (Hanson, Mass.) and Kassy Montgomery (Winooski, Vt.) was the second and third runners for the Owl women.  Mientkiewicz finished 60th (25:06) and Montgomery placed 65th (25:17).  Freshmen Escalante (New Canaan, Conn.), who was 69th (25:21) and Hannah Doolittle (Hampstead, N.H.), who placed 81st (25:43) round out the scorers for the Owls.

Keene State will now get ready for the New England Regional Championships that will take place at Bowdoin College next Saturday.