Full Results

HANOVER, N.H. –  The UMass Lowell men's cross country team, led by sophomore Chris Skelley (Pepperell, Mass.), grabbed a second place finish in the four-team Dartmouth Invitational, Saturday, at the Hanover Country Club.
 
"Overall we're pleased, as a team we ran pretty well," said UMass Lowell Head Coach Gary Gardner. "This was their first 8K of the season.  It sets them up well for their next race; some of these guys will be in our top ten, maybe top five."
 
Skelley was the top River Hawk runner.  He finished fifth among scorers as UMass Lowell earned 55 points; the host school, Dartmouth, tallied 16.  Dartmouth: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 (7, 9) - 16.  UMass Lowell: 5,10,12,13,15, (23, 26) - 55.
 
"Chris ran a really tough race," according to Gardner.  "He trained well, he had a great summer, this validates that work.  This will help his confidence."
 
Skelley, despite some ups and downs, showed promise during his freshman year.
 
"He's become a work horse," said Gardner.  "He does everything he's supposed to do and more.  He's gaining experience and appears to be approaching a breakthrough.  He ran today as well as he ran at the end of last year and that's a good thing."
 
Junior Randy Nong (Lowell, Mass.) was the second River Hawk across the finish line. He was tenth among scoring runners with a time of 26:15.27.  It was a good performance for a runner who had mixed results during the indoor and outdoor seasons.
 
"His upside is real good, but we are looking for more consistency," said Gardner.  "He's working on it and chipping away.  He competed real well today."
 
Junior Timothy Poitras (Dracut, Mass.) was 12th among scoring runners.  He was the third UMass Lowell scorer and timed in at 26:36.51.
 
"He ran a solid race," said Gardner.  "He loves it and works really hard.  He continues to get a little bit better and a little bit better."
 
Another "hard worker," sophomore Kevin Murphy (Chelmsford, Mass.) was hot on Poitras' heels.  He crossed the finish line two-seconds after his teammate had done so, 26:38.83.
 
The final UMass Lowell scorer was sophomore Phillip Demers (Hudson, N.H.)  Demers running his first collegiate cross country race hit the finish line in a time of 26:40.87.
 
Dartmouth's Quinn Cooney was first across the finish line among scoring runners.  He was timed at 25-minutes, 16.01-seconds.  Overall Cooney was the third to cross the finish line, UMass Lowell junior Paul Hogan (Burlington, Mass.), running "unattached" turned in the day's top time.  He clocked in at 24:26.45, some 26-seconds ahead of the rest of the field and 50-seconds ahead of the top scorer. 
 
Hogan, red-shirting after sustaining an injury last winter, has not raced competitively in nearly a year.  He impressed, running with Thomas Toth, also unattached, for the first 5K, before leaving the Canadian National Half Marathon Champion behind in the final three-thousand meters.
 
"It was just good to see him get out there and race," said Gardner.  "He appeared to have a lot left in the tank and that's a good sign." 
 
Hogan was one of three River Hawks running "unattached."  All three finished among the top eight.  Junior John Abraham (Lowell, Mass.) crossed the finish line, seventh in the full field, in a time of 25:47.54.  Junior Dhahran Velasquez (New Britain, Conn.) was eighth, overall, in a time of 25:52.27.
 
Things will begin to get far more interesting as the level of competition picks up when UMass Lowell competes in the Coast to Coast Invitational hosted by Boston College, Friday, September 16, in Franklin Park in Boston.