WOMEN'S 5K RESULTS | MEN'S 8K RESULTS

DURHAM, N.H.- The UMass Lowell women's cross country team turned in their best performance of the year on Friday in Durham N.H., leading them to their second straight America East Conference Championship. With first-place finishes on both sides, the River Hawks completed the title sweep for the second consecutive season.
 
"This was by far the best race the women have won all year. We finally came down after a little bit of hard training, and it all kind of came together today," said Head Coach Gary Gardner about the victory. "Anytime you can put four in the top seven, that's pretty impressive."
 
In the 5k race, the River Hawks recorded four runners in the top-10. All five scoring times also clocked in the top-15. Graduate Student Emily Sessa (Tewksbury, Mass.) earned silver with a time of 16:32.29, which destroyed her previous best by more than an entire minute. Next to finish for the River Hawks was senior Izzy Giesing (Bradford, Vt.) who also beat her best time by over a minute, flying in with a time of 16:54.07.
 
"Emily absolutely ran fantastic. We tried to convince her how good she really was coming into this. [Emily Mackay] from Binghamton was 13th in the country last year, and she gave her everything she could handle," remarked Gardner.
 
Joining Sessa and Giesing on the America East All-Conference first team were graduate students Kaley Richards (Lowell, Mass.) and Jenna Solimine (Haverhill, Mass.), who placed sixth and seventh, respectively. Both runners also set personal bests, with Richards coming in with a time of 17:01.39 and Solimine right behind her at 17:05.89. Rounding out the scoring for the River Hawks was junior Mackenzie Doyle (Swansea, Mass.). Her time of 17:22.67 put her 13th overall to help the squad secure the victory in Durham.
 
"We won last year so coming back here again, we wanted to do it again," said Sessa. "Being a fifth-year grad student, and it being my last year. it's really special to have it happen twice for us."
 
For leading the River Hawks to two consecutive conference championship sweeps, the UMass Lowell coaching staff was named the 2021 Coaching Staff of the Year for both the men's and the women's programs.
 
"Sweeping two years in a row is pretty cool. It's not something we'd ever do when we moved up to Division I, so it's really special for everybody," said Gardner.