RESULTS
 
DARTMOUTH, Mass.—The UMass Lowell cross country team hit its stride today at the UMass Dartmouth Invitational. The men's squad turned in an outstanding team performance to earn first, while the women set a trio of personal bests. 
 
"We used this weekend to give our freshmen a chance to compete for a championship, which obviously they did very well," remarked Head Coach Gary Gardner.
 
The men's team highlighted the day with a dominating 44-point team win. Junior William Cole-French (Hanoi, Vietnam) paced the squad in the five-miler with a personal-best 24:10.40 time to take fourth overall. Just behind him, freshman Jan Wouter van den Akker (Groningen, Netherlands) ran a strong race to finish just behind Cole-French in fifth, crossing the line in 24:13.40.
 
"Will and Wouter ran great. Anyone that raced at Vermont completed much better this weekend," commented Gardner.
 
Graduate student Justin Carbone (Exeter, N.H.) rounded out the top-10 this afternoon, clocking in at 24:47.7 for a career-best and tenth place. Chasing down Carbone, freshman Landen Vaillancourt (New Ipswich, N.H.) narrowly missed the top-10 mark, coming in at 24:51.00 for eleventh overall. In his first-ever five-mile attempt, sophomore Joe Young hit his stride to finishing in 25:00.5 for fourteenth overall.
 
With a pair of highly competitive races on the horizon, several veteran River Hawks ran the men's JV five-mile to rack up meet day miles.
 
"In the JV race, we had some of our more experienced guys use it as a really solid workout, which work out perfectly," said Gardner.
 
The experience men's squad ran as a pack in the five-mile, taking the top eight spots in quick succession. Graduate student Christopher Alfond (Ashby, Mass.) led the group with a 23:54.30 for first place and a personal best. Graduate students Derek Holmes (Marshfield, Mass.) and Daniel Cosgrove (Boxford, Mass.) completed the top-three, crossing the line in tandem at 23:54.7 to tie for second.
 
The River Hawks had a trio of competitors take on the women's varsity 5K, with senior Olivia Sheffield (Lowell, Mass.), freshman Delaney Swanson (Swanzey, N.H.) and junior Allison Anusauskas (Auburn, Mass.) each registering personal best times.
 
"The three women we had racing all ran massive personal bests. Olivia has worked extremely hard and now is going to be a major contributor," noted Gardner. "Delaney had another great race and is two-for-two her freshman year. It's also great to see Ally healthy and competing well."
 
Sheffield led the women's squad with a fifth-place finish off an 18:05.9 time, shaving over 40 seconds off her previous best set at the 2018 America East Cross Country Championships. In just her second career appearance, Swanson improved upon her last 5K time by nearly a minute, crossing the finish line 18:47.2 to place eleventh. With an impressive 50 second improvement, Anusauskas finished 21st overall in today's 5K with a 19:06.6 time.
 
UMass Lowell returns to the course next Friday, Sept. 24, traveling to Boston for the 2021 Coast-to-Coast Invitational hosted by Boston College.