RESULTS
KEENE, N.H. – Fifth year University of Massachusetts Lowell transfer and local Keene High School product
Jake Velazquez began his Keene State College career with a bang, winning the season-opening Alumni Meet by over 20 seconds as the Owl men's cross country team also won the event as a group on Saturday at the Owl Athletic Complex.
KSC finished first with 36 points, edging out defending conference champion Plymouth State University by seven points. The Owl alumni group finished third with 61 points and was followed by Westfield State University, Framingham State University, the University of Massachusetts-Boston, and Worcester State University.
Velazquez's winning time on the 5K course came in at 15:18.5, which was 49 seconds faster than the winner from a year ago (Nathan Sylven, Westfield State). His teammate
Griffin Urnezis placed second in 15:40.0, with a pair of Owl alumni in David Bridgewater (15:40.3) and Eric MacKnight (15:45.6) coming in third and fourth, respectively. Keene State also got top 10 finishes from sophomore
Tyler Bolaske (16:06.9) and freshman Ben Tetu (16:09.1). Urnezis and Bolaske were the top two-finishing rookies at the conference championship a season ago.
Rounding out the KSC men were
Marty Nelligan (14th; 16:54.7),
Jonathan MacQuarrie (20th; 17:15.6),
Nick Terranova (25th; 17:20.6),
Alex Labrecque (43rd; 18:14.7),
Tyler Robinson (54th; 18:42.9), and
Ted Rockwell (65th; 20:17).
On the women's side, resting some of their projected top runners, the Owls placed second as a team and had three finish in the top 13, paced by
Kallie Warner's fourth place finish in 12:15.1. Fellow newcomers
Jaden Johnson (10th; 12:49) and
Rita Cummings (13th; 12:50.5) also impressed as KSC finished with 62 points.
Westfield State won the women's team title, placing six of their runners in the top nine and all seven in the top 12. Shea Hamel won the two mile race in 12:00.8, edging out Plymouth State's Rose Karow (12:08.9).
Rounding out KSC's contingent were
Sara Christian (16th; 12:55.1),
Ava Fortin (21st; 13:09.3),
Tessa Tanner (27th; 13.24.8),
Autumn Boisvert (28th; 13:30.2),
Alana Perry (29th; 13:30.3),
Alyssa Edgren (30th; 13:31.3),
Maya Wedge (40th; 14:18.4), and
Eleni Papadapoulos (45th; 14:55.1).
"This was a great first meet and sets us up well going into September," said Owls head coach
Dan Roark. "Our returners had a great summer and it showed. Our newcomers are ringing in a new era of Keene State runners. A win and a second place is a great start...excited to get stronger as the season goes on."
Keene State, predicted to win the LEC on the women's side and finish fourth on the men's in the recently-released preseason polls, will race at the Ron Stonitsch Invitational hosted by Vassar College on Saturday, September 14 at 10:00 a.m.
