Results

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The UMass Lowell men's cross country team turned in its strongest performance of the season, Saturday on the Goodman Campus Cross Country Course, to earn a tenth place finish in a field of 46 teams at the 46th Annual Paul Short Run hosted by Lehigh University.

"They ran great today," said UMass Lowell Cross Country Head Coach Gary Gardner.  "This was a huge improvement.  It's not perfect, but it's light years ahead of where we were."

Nine of UMass Lowell's ten runners turned in personal best times at the 8k distance.  That was a dramatic change after a mixed showing two weeks ago at the Coast to Coast Invitational.  Saturday's performance was just what the coach wanted to see.

"These guys all are good competitors," according to Gardner.  "They are gutty, I never question their toughness."

Finishing tenth, in a field filled with national and regionally ranked teams, the River Hawks accumulated 309-points (16, 49, 62, 67, 121 - 140, 155).  Utah State won the event with 54-points (5, 8, 9, 15, 17 - 18, 59).  Penn was second and Adams State was third.  UMass Lowell was just one-point behind Dartmouth in eighth place and did finish ahead of strong teams from Villanova, Georgia and Tennessee.

"We ran solid throughout the race," according to Gardner.  "We didn't have to try to catch too many runner in the later stages of the race.  We're certainly trending in the right direction."

Senior Christopher Alfond (Ashby, Mass.) was the top River Hawk finisher.  He clocked in with a personal best 23-minutes, 48.76-seconds.  It was good for 16th place in a field of more than 360 runners.

"That's the best cross country race he's ever run," said Gardner about a runner who was sidelined by injury a year ago.  "He has certainly shaken the cobwebs off; he ran extremely well."

And Alfond wasn't the only one.  Junior Derek Holmes (Marshfield, Mass.) was the second River Hawk scorer.  He posted a time of 24:12.12 to finish 49th.  Junior Benjamin Drezek (Cumberland, R.I.) hit the finish line in a time of 24:19.23 in what Gardner described simply as "an excellent race."

Juniors Kyle Cloutier (Lancaster, Mass.) and Daniel Cosgrove (Boxford, Mass.) finished out the scoring.  

Cloutier turned in his second consecutive impressive performance.  He crossed the finish line in a time of 24:21.246.  The time was his second personal best in as many runs and placed him in 67th position.  Gardner's reaction was that  "Cloutier's running at a totally different level now."

Cosgrove punched the clock with a personal record 24:42.17 finishing 121st.

Seniors Liam Kimball (Atkinson, N.H.) and Harry Maloy (Pepperell, Mass.) wrapped up the top seven.  They posted times of 24:51.63 and 24:57.24 respectively to finish 140th and 155th.  For Maloy it was his first cross country run of the season.

Gardner was also pleased with the performance of the women's team.  Official results were not posted after officials had problems with the timing system.

Graduate student Nicole Murphy (Mendon, Mass.) and junior Emily Sessa (Tewksbury, Mass.) were the top two UMass Lowell finishers.  Murphy clocked in at 21:58.77 on the 6k course.  Sessa's time was not available.

"Nicole is as tough as anybody, she's a great competitor," said Gardner.  "Emily turned in a personal best.  She's got speed; she's a middle distance runner and she's gotten stronger every year."

The coaches had split the women's team, choosing to have the more experienced runners compete in the 6k while others will run next week at the 5k in the New England Championships.

The New England Championships will be Saturday, October 12, on the familiar Franklin Park Course in Boston.