Cross Country Competes At Blazers Invitational

CHICOPEE, MA - University of New England's (UNE) Jess Partlow and Johnson & Wales' Greg Redfield earned top individual honors with impressive performances, while UNE and Johnson & Wales claimed the women's and men's top team honors respectively in Saturday morning's Blazers cross country invitational hosted by Elms College at Chicopee Memorial State Park.
 
Partlow clocked a time of 19:42 to break the 5K course record of 19:48 which she set in 2008. Redfield also set a new course record in the men's 8K run, finishing with a time of 27:04. The previous course record was held by Newbury's Herrell Siller Jr. who turned in a time of 27:45 last season.
 
For the women, UNE finished first as a team, collecting 19 points, while Johnson & Wales (56), Lesley (61), Wheelock (150), New England College (154), Mount Ida (170), and Eastern Nazarene (197) followed. Bay Path, Curry, Elms and Newbury did not record a team score.
 
On the men's side, Johnson & Wales tallied a low score of 23, while UNE finished in second with 45 points. Lesley (90), New England College (148), Newbury (172), and Eastern Nazarene (217) followed. Elms did not record a team score.
 
Lesley's Noa Kupfer finished in second overall in the women's race in a time of 19:44, while UNE's Kim Martins placed third with a 20:16 clip.
For the men, Lesley's Fran Cusick crossed the finish line at the 27:12 mark to earn second place honors, while UNE's Matthew Veiga finished at 27:21 to claim third.
 
Elms junior runner Alycia Dabrowski (Chicopee, MA) was the top finisher for the Blazers women, notching a time of 22:35 to place 24th overall in a field of 83 runners.
 
Blazers freshman Brendan Warren (Arlington, MA) registered a time of 35:53 and was the squad's lead finisher. He placed 34th out of 52 runners.

Story by: Chris Attwood (Elms College)