KEENE, N.H. – Junior
Tyler Bolaske set a new personal record by over 20 seconds just one meet after bettering his previous best mark by nearly a minute as the Keene State College cross country teams hosted their own invitational on a summery fall Saturday at the Owl Athletic Complex.
Bolaske finished the 8K course in 24:32.7 to place fourth in a strong and very large field of 277 runners, surpassing his time of 24:55.3 accomplished at the Wesleyan University (Conn.) Cardinal Invitational two weeks ago. Prior to that, his 8K PR was 25:54.2 at the NCAA regional championship last season. Bolaske was just six seconds away from a second-place finish at the meet, and two of the three runners ahead of him were seniors.
He was not the lone Owl to set a new personal-best, as Nicholas Terranova placed in 47th on the men's side in 26:10.4 and
Kallie Warner finished the women's 6K course in 23:44.4.
The men had four top 100 finishers while placing fifth as a team, including junior
Griffin Urnezis in 25:44.0 and Ben Tetu in 64th with a time of 26:41.5. KSC had 202 points as a team in their fifth-place finish, nine behind Plymouth State University. Three of the Owls' top four runners finish significantly better than the Panthers' counterparts, but PSU's fifth finisher garnered 53 points while KSC's added 96. Williams College took the team title with 31 points, finishing five in the top 10, to edge second-place Tufts University by one point. The Jumbos' Jonah Reisner won the race with a time of 24:12.2. Colby College was in third with 89 points.
On the women's side, senior
Maggie St. John led the Owls with a 25th-place finish, finishing in 22:36.8 in a field of 288 runners. The only faster time than hers from the Little East Conference came from Rhode Island College's Haley Oliver, who finished in 21:45.0 and in sixth place. Sophomores
Kallie Warner (69th, 23:44.4) and
Ava Fortin (99th, 24:46.6) also notched top 100 finishes for KSC, who was 10th of 26 teams with 324 points.
Nationally second-ranked Williams had the top four finishers and won the women's race with 18 team points. Junior Tamar Byl-Brann placed first in 21:13.4, beating her classmate Morgan Eigel by 15 seconds.
"Having a day where are are top five and top 10 against a huge field with nationally-ranked teams and teams fighting for top 10 finishes at regionals is a good day," said Owls head coach
Dan Roark. "We are in good company and the team is finding their identity. On the men's side,
Tyler Bolaske is making a big leap and his teammates are not too far behind him in making their own leaps. Shout out to Ben Tetu, who ran over a minute and a half faster than he did last race - a big step up for him. We are still looking for a fifth runner to step up, but we have time for someone to do so. The women were the best in the LEC today among the schools represented.
Kallie Warner had a good day today and the women as a whole were fighting. We have a tough group that shows a lot of grit."
KSC will travel to the Connecticut College Invitational in two weeks (Saturday, October 18) in their final tune-up before the Little East Conference championship as both the Owl men and women look to defend last year's titles. There are two races on each side at the Harkness Memorial State Park, with the men's 8K white open race at 10:00 a.m. and the women's 6K white open race at 11:00 a.m. The men's 8K blue championship race will commence at noon, and the women's 6K Caroline Grape memorial blue championship race at 1:00 p.m.
