LOWELL, Mass. – The UMass Lowell men's cross country team struck gold on Saturday morning at both the 2023 Pre-Nationals hosted by Virginia and Suffolk Invitational in Boston. 

The squad won the Men's Orange 8K race as a team against some of the best competition in the country with 49 points, edging out Missouri (73) and George Washington (113). 

"Great day all around!" said Head Coach Gary Gardner. "Easily our best performances of the season as a team."

Junior Wouter Van Den Akker (Groningen, Netherlands) tallied another great race to his season, finishing in third place overall to lead the River Hawks with a time of 24:20.1. The next finisher, junior William Benoit (Fairhaven, Mass.) was not far behind, taking 10th place with a 24:38.6 mark. Senior Hunter Marion (Templeton, Mass.) also had a great race, earning 12th-place honors with a time of 24:40.1. 

"At Pre-Nationals, the men's team ran perfect," said Gardner. "They got out well, settled in and then closed really well. Hunter and Will did that to perfection and Wouter once again ran great."

Sophomore Sean Kennedy-Wonneberger (East Haddam, Conn.) also contributed greatly to the team's winning effort, putting up a 24:49.0 mark for 19th place, while senior Jake Velazquez (Keene, N.H.) finished just behind hin in 23rd with a time of 24:52.8.

"It was good to see Sean race and he raced really well until the last kilometer, which will be fixed in the next few weeks," said Gardner.

Senior Joseph Young (Dorchester, Mass.) (27th, 24:54.2), junior Nate DeAngelo (37th, 25:07.1), graduate student Joseph Walsh (Auburn, Mass.) (43rd, 25:12.4), graduate student Jeffrey Allen (Litchfield, N.H.) (47th, 25:16.0), senior Henry Farrington (Essex Junction, Vt.) (65th, 25:34.0) and senior Tyler Sullivan (Walpole, Mass.) (86th, 25:58.1) rounded out the River Hawk participants in Virginia. 

The team found similar success at the Suffolk Invite, as many of the younger runners performed and gave a look into the future of the program with a 2nd-place finish as a team. 

"At Suffolk, the men's team ran well all the way down the line," said Gardner. "It was a good glimpse of the future depth of our team."

Junior Landen Vaillancourt (New Ipswich, N.H.) ran unattached in the race and picked up the victory with a time of 25:24. Freshman David McKinnon (Bloomsbury, N.J.) led the way for the River Hawk scorers with a fourth-place finish and 25:52 mark. 

"It was great to see David put a good one together," said Gardner.

Freshman Keegan Tierney (East Greenwich, R.I.) also ran unattached, finishing just behind McKinnon in seventh place, while sophomore Joshua Rivers (Manchester, N.H.) picked up a time of 26:30 for 21st place. Freshmen Timothy Walsh (Auburn, Mass.) (26:33), Ryan Taylor (Egg Harbor, N.J.) (26:35) and sophomore Daniel Burns (Billerica, Mass.) (26:37) also ran well, finishing in 22nd, 24th and 26th place, respectively. Freshmen Nicholas Uzzo (East Bridgewater, Mass.) (27:26) and Dean Allen (Chelmsford, Mass.) (27:56) rounded out the scoring for the River Hawks with 50th and 67th-place efforts, respectively. 

Next, the River Hawks will look to defend their crown at the America East Championships on Friday, October 27 and will go for their fourth straight conference title.