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

BURLINGTON, Vt.—The UMass Lowell men's and women's cross country programs kicked off the 2021 season on a high note at the Vermont Invitational on Saturday afternoon. The men ran to a second-place finish overall, while the women finished fourth.
 
"Overall, it was an outstanding effort for the men's and women's teams. We sat a number of our runners on each side and used this weekend as an early benchmark for the others," said Head Coach Gary Gardner. "I was most impressed with each of the runners pushing through the discomfort of the first race effort of the season."
 
Leading the women, freshman Sarah Ross (Agawam, Mass.) had an outstanding performance in her first collegiate 5K, placing fourth overall with an 18:28.1 finishing time. Veteran distance runner Sarah Burns (Billerica, Mass.) narrowly missed the top-10, clocking in at 19:12.40 to take 12th in the packed field.
 
"Sarah Ross has an outstanding debut. She beat several quality runners and looked confident in doing so," remarked Gardner. "Sarah Burns may have had her best day on the cross-country course it was great to see her hard work start to pay off."
 
On the men's side, graduate student Benjamin Drezek (Cumberland, R.I.) paced the River Hawks with a personal-best time of 25:23.8 to earn second. 
 
"Ben Drezek ran a controlled race to get some of the rust off, just looking forward to races later in the season," commented Gardner on the veteran runner's performance. 
 
Not long after Drezek completed his run, freshman Jan Wouter van den Akker (Groningen, Netherlands) picked up sixth in his first race as a River Hawk, clocking in at 25:38.7. Mere seconds later, junior Eoin Dooley (Stoneham, Mass.) crossed the line in seventh with a career-best 25:42.2 time.
 
"Eoin Dooley had a breakthrough day; he's been grinding for a while and seeing his hard work pay off was awesome," mentioned Gardner. 
 
In their first collegiate attempts at the 8K, sophomore Tyler Parrado (Weehawken, N.J.) and Hunter Marion (Templeton, Mass.) finished in quick succession to finish 10th and 11th, respectively. Parrado narrowly beat out Marion for a spot in the top-10, clocking in at 25:51.50 to Marion's 25:57.5. 
 
"The freshman really carried the day on the men's side. Wouter, Parrado, and Marion all ran very well. I was really impressed with their poise and ability to run through the discomfort," noted Gardner. 
 
The River Hawks take a brief hiatus from the course before returning to action on Sept. 18, when they travel to North Dartmouth, Mass. for the UMass Dartmouth Invitational.