Assumption women place 3rd, men 6th, at NE-10 Cross-Country Championship

Leslie Roda

Staff Writer

Sunday, November 4th, the women and men’s cross-country teams competed in the Northeast-10 Conference Championship at the Hopkinton State Fairgrounds in Hopkinton, New Hampshire. Coming into the much-anticipated race, the men were slated to take eighth place in the coaches’ poll while the women were slated to take fifth. Both teams finished two places higher than the coaches’ poll predicted.

The women took third place at the cross-country championships. This was the fifth year in a row the program had a top-three finish in the Northeast-10 cross-country championships. The first Assumption runner to cross the finish line was two-time, “NE-10 Women’s Athlete of the Week,” junior Kialeigh Marston with her top-20 performance with a time of 22:49.52. Prior to the championship, Marston has not competed since September 22 at the 16th Annual Ted Owen Cross Country Invitational where she ran a 18:52 5K.

Assumption College first-year students, Sydney McCann and Grace Corbett, were the next runners to cross the line with times of 23:14.63 and 23:18.91 respectively. The Hounds had four top-50 finishes in the meet.

Stonehill College won the NE-10 women’s cross country championship for their 17th NE-10 title, while Merrimack took second place. This was their 10th straight NE-10 title for the Stonehill women cross country program.

The men had their highest finish in 10 years at the cross-country championships, where they finished in 6th place. Sophomore, Andrew Lamb, had the Hounds best performance, with a top-15 finish. Lamb finished with a time of 25:20.74, which placed him 13th out of 151 runners. Sophomore, Jon Wahl, was the next Hound to cross the finish line with a time of 26:07.92 and classmate, Shawn Scullion finished behind him with a time of 26:23.27.

Southern Connecticut State University captured their first NE-10 title for men’s cross-country. The top three teams on the men’s side were very close. The Owls of Southern Connecticut State had 50 points, while Stonehill had 57, followed by American International College at 60.

The women’s cross-country team will be looking to defend their NCAA East-Region title in the upcoming weeks. The Hounds are returning to action on Saturday, November 17th when they compete in the NCAA East Regionals in Long Island, New York.