KEENE, N.H. – The Keene State College cross country teams, fresh off each winning a Little East Conference championship a season ago, opened their 2025 season by each placing second at their Alumni Meet on a nice summer Saturday at the Owl Athletic Complex.
The Owls rested some of their expected top runners, instead getting their first look at newcomers and improvements from returners as they aim to continue elevating both programs.
On the men's side, sophomore Nicholas Terranova improved his time by over a minute and a half from the same race last year, placing second individually in 15:44.0, over 30 seconds better than the third-place finisher Lorcan Bergeron of Westfield State University.
Jake Velazquez, who raked in many accolades a season ago including racing to All-American status at the national championship, won the men's race in 15:04.0, 14.5 seconds better than his time from a season ago. KSC also got top 10 finishes from junior
Jonathan MacQuarrie (5th, 16:29.4) and freshman
Andrew Klinedinst (8th, 16:37.6) in his first collegiate race. Alexander Vaccaro (20th, 17:25.4),
Jacob Plante (22nd, 17:30.5), and
Jacob Ciriello (26th, 17:52.9) – all freshmen – also scored for the Owls, who had 54 points as a team.
Westfield State took the team title with 42, finishing six in the top 13, four of whom were upperclassmen.
The KSC women also finished runner-up as a team to Westfield, who had seven of the top 11 runners on the day including the second through sixth-place finishers.
A younger contingent of Owls comprised the top of their scoring list, as sophomore
Ava Fortin placed eighth in 12:31.4, 38 seconds better than last year at the same meet, and first year Ellie Tighe two spots behind in 12:39.9 in her first collegiate race.
Tessa Tanner (14th, 12:57.4),
Maya Wedge (15th, 13:04.4),
Alyssa Edgren (18th, 13:19.3), and Helena Papadopoulos (20th, 13:27.3) also finished within the top 20 of the 53-runner race. Senior Shea Roche of the University of Massachusetts-Boston was the individual winner on the women's side, finishing in 11:52.5 to edge Westfield junior Reese Stevens (11:56.0).
"We accomplished what we came to do today," said KSC head coach
Dan Roark. "We rested a few of our top runners and had some great performances from a young group.
Nick Terranova and
Tessa Tanner specifically had strong performances. I am excited where this team is headed but we have long way. Westfield is a strong team that bested us on both sides today, but I am interested to see where we stack up the next time we see them. It was great to have the alumni out and in strong force supporting our student-athletes."
The Owls are back at it next Saturday (September 2) when they travel to Bryant University for the Shawn Nassaney Invitational. The women's race begins at 10:30 a.m. and the men at 11:15 a.m.
