BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The UMass Lowell men's cross country team performed well in the Paul Short Run on Friday morning at Lehigh.
"It was interesting, but overall pleased with the results," said Head Coach Gary Gardner. "We are very young overall, but with some exceptional upperclassman. In the men's gold race, five had a good race and the other 5 not so great. Wouter is where we thought he was and is one of the best runners in the region. Sean struggled a bit today, but we know he will be fine. Devin and Will Conklin ran outstanding for freshman. Dante was solid to round out our scoring in the race. Good job, but we will be better moving forward."
The 8k open was the first event of the day, as graduate student Nate Deangelo (Bristol, Conn.) was the first River Hawk to cross the line at 24:56.7 for 43rd place. Not far back, senior Nathaniel Fondakowski (Pelham, N.H.) ran past the line at 25:11.5, claiming 58th place.
A few River Hawks finished inside the top 100, with freshman Christopher Guerin (Shrewsbury, Mass.) (80th, 25:22.3), freshman Patrick Croughwell (Norwich, Conn.) (84th, 25:23.6), graduate student Graham Stedfast (Rowley, Mass.) (87th, 25:25.4), and senior Hatim Boukhtam (Abington, Mass.) (97th, 25:28.2), respectively.
Following behind, sophomore Jamie Lano (Strafford, N.H.) claimed 134th at a 25:44.7 mark, and junior Joshua Rivers (Manchester, N.H.) finished at 25:48.2 for 145th place. Also behind were freshman Jonathan Rooney (Danvers, Mass.) (153rd, 25:51.4), junior Nicolas Uzzo (East Bridgewater, Mass.) (158th, 25:52.3), and junior Samuel Denis (Randolph, Mass.) (159th, 25:52.9), respectively.
Rounding out the River Hawks, junior Dean Allen (Chelmsford, Mass.) (26:04.5) finished in 186th, and senior Daniel Burns (Billerica, Mass.) (26:22.8) finished in 232nd.
In the college gold 8k event, graduate student Jan Wouter Van Den Akker (Groningen, Netherlands) led the pack, coasting to 11th place after clocking in at a time of 23:29.5. Senior Sean Kennedy-Wonneberger (East Haddam, Conn.) was next up, finishing at a time of 24:05.0 for 52nd place.
Sophomore Devin Moreau (Tyngsboro, Mass.) followed behind, claiming 77th place at 24:17.0, as freshman Will Conklin (Danvers, Mass.) took 122nd with a time of 24:38.9, and sophomore Dante Castellano (Nashua, N.H.) finished in 165th at 24:56.1, respectively. Also running in the college gold race for the River Hawks are junior Nicholas Marcotte (Hudson, N.H.), junior Keegan Tierney (East Greenwich, R.I.), and sophomore Jack Courtney.
The team looks ahead to the Princeton Fall Classic on Friday, October 17, at Princeton.
