LOWELL, Mass. – Graduate student Paul Neilan finished fourth (14:39.16) in the Varsity 5K, helping lead the team to a third place finish, as the UMass Lowell men's cross country team competed at the CCSU Mini Meet, hosted by Central Connecticut State University Friday afternoon at Stanley Quarter Park in New Britain, Conn.

"The men were outstanding today," said Head Coach Gary Gardner. "We had a mix of guys trying to earn spots for next week's conference championships and others finishing off their seasons. All of them performed really well and Paul had that breakout performance we all knew he was capable off."

Junior Hatim Boukhtam (Abington, Mass.) was the next River Hawk to finish the Varsity 5K, taking home 15th place out of 84 runners with a time of 15:03.65. Sophomore David McKinnon (Bloomsbury, N.J.) and sophomore Samuel Denis (Randolph, Mass.) finished in 19th and 22nd place, respectively, with times of 15:06.59 and 15:09.72, before junior Nathanael Fondakowski (Pelham, N.H.) zoomed in at 15:12.19 for 26th place. Freshman Jamie Lano (Strafford, N.H.) took 56th place with a 15:51.44 mark, as senior Timothy Brigham (Holden, Mass.) rounded out the River Hawk runners in 73rd place with a time of 16:18.38.

Three River Hawk freshmen ran unattached in the Varsity 3K, including Devin Moreau (Tyngsboro, Mass.) (11th, 14:56.48), Jack Courtney (31st, 15:22.79) and Isaac Henderson (70th, 16:04.93).

The squad finished second in the Sub Varsity 5K, and a huge reason why was the performance of senior Adnan Abdirahman (Charlestown, Mass.), who won the race with a time of 15:12.21. Three River Hawks finished consecutively in eighth, ninth and tenth place in freshman Patrick Hall (Billerica, Mass.) (15:26.65), junior Joshua Rivers (Manchester, N.H.) (15:29.79) and junior Hale Boyden (Barnet, Vt.) (15:31.66).

Sophomore Timothy Walsh (Auburn, Mass.) claimed 13th with a 15:33.46 mark, while freshman Anthony Verdi (Frederick, Md.) took 19th place with a time of 15:43.79 and senior Sean Riley (Wilmington, Mass) finished in 20th with a 15:46.00 mark. It was then graduate student Jake Connolly (Weymouth, Mass.) (15:52.83) and junior Daniel Burns (Billerica, Mass.) (15:56.89) who finished back-to-back in 24th and 25th place, before senior TJ Glowik (Danvers, Mass.) crossed the finish line in 37th place with a time of 16:19.31.

Sophomore Dean Allen (Chelmsford, Mass.) finished in 40th place with a time of 16:27.66, while sophomore Pedro Mayol (Lincoln, R.I.) (16:35.20) and freshman Tyler Young (Marion, Mass.) (16:36.55) took home 46th and 49th place, respectively.

Four more runners ran unattached in the Sub Varsity 5K in sophomore Nicholas Marcotte (Hudson, N.H.) (5th, 15:22.67), sophomore Nicholas Uzzo (East Bridgewater, Mass.) (36th, 16:17.79), sophomore Seyha Rath (Lowell, Mass.) (45th, 16:34.52) and junior Basit Iddriss (Milford, Mass) (52nd, 16:49.03).

Next up, the River Hawks will travel to Burlington, Vt. for the 2024 America East Cross Country Championships next Saturday, November 2, beginning at 11:00 a.m., where they will look to win their fifth consecutive conference title.