SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Nicholas Terranova placed 15th in a 68-runner field on the men's side and was the ninth-fastest finishing underclassman as the Keene State men's and women's cross country teams each competed at the Shawn Nassaney Invitational hosted by Bryant University on Saturday morning.

KSC was one of four Division III schools (of nine overall) on the women's side and one of three Division III schools (of seven overall) on the men's side at the meet, and was the best-finishing Division III school on both sides.

For the second straight week, Terranova – a sophomore – paced the men, this time finishing the 3.1-mile course in 16:13.4 to place 15th, just 11 seconds away from a top 10 finish.  Freshman Andrew Klinedinst posted a time of 17:45.8 in 43rd, followed right behind by Ben Tetu (17:46.7) and Jonathan MacQuarrie (17:51.4).  Freshman Alex Vaccaro (18:32.2), Jacob Plante (18:37.5), and Jacob Ciriello (18:41.1) also made up the Owls' scoring contingent.  KSC finished with 144 points as a team to finish fifth, 29 ahead of Wheaton College (Mass.) and 51 ahead of fellow LEC member Rhode Island College.  Division I Stonehill College won the men's meet as a team with 17 points, placing seven runners in the top eight including junior Dylan Brilliant who won the race in 15:29.3, six seconds faster than his classmate Ryan Pereira.  For the second straight week, KSC rested Griffin Urnezis and Tyler Bolaske.

On the women's side, Maggie St. John was the best-finishing Owl, logging a time of 19:31.4 and placing 24th of 94 finishers on the 3.1-mile course.  Sophomore Ava Fortin was in the top half of the race, finishing in 20:33.7 (45th), while freshman Ellie Tighe was 55th with a scoring time of 21:17.5.  Maya Wedge (62nd, 21:47.3), Alyssa Edgren (64th, 21:59.2), Alana Perry (67th, 22:27.9), and Helena Papadopoulos (68th, 22:38.5) all also posted scoring marks for KSC, who was fifth with 171 points as a team.  Thirteen of their 15-point gap over sixth-place Wheaton came from their No. 4 and No. 5 scorers.

Host Bryant won the women's meet as a team with 36 points and three of the top four finishers, with teammates and classmates Jasmine Trott and Chloe Whiting each finishing in 17:54.2 to comprise of the top two finishers.

"It was an early-season meet and glad we were the top Division III team on both sides, but we have a long way to go," said Keene State head coach Dan Roark.  "We sat our top two men, but excited for our next meet on September 20."

KSC travels to Wesleyan University for the Cardinal Invitational on that day.  The women's race starts at 11:00 a.m. and the men's race begins at 12:00 p.m.