River Hawks Split Time Between Pre-National Invitational and R.K. Muncey Invitational

Collage of Patrick Hall, Luke Zahurak and Jack Courtney Running

River Hawks Split Time Between Pre-National Invitational and R.K. Muncey Invitational

10/16/2026 2:34:00 PM | Men's Cross Country/Track & Field

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The UMass Lowell men's cross country team competed in both the Under Armour Pre-National Invitational in Terre Haute, Indiana and R.K. Muncey Cross Country Invitational at UAlbany on Friday afternoon.

"We took a step forward from Paul Short," said Head Coach Gary Gardner. "It was not perfect, but much better."

At Pre-Nationals in the men's blue 8k, sophomore Will Simard (Francestown, N.H.) led the way for the River Hawks, claiming 147th place out of 339 runners with a personal-best time of 24:30.3, before junior Devin Moreau (Tynsgboro, Mass.) finished in 172nd place with a 24:37.1 mark. Senior Nicholas Marcotte (Hudson, N.H.) and sophomore Will Conklin (Danvers, Mass.) were next, finishing in 223rd and 226th place, respectively, with times of 24:52.8 and 24:53.4. Sophomore James Cruse (Melbourne, Australia) crossed the finish line in 254th with a time of 25:04.0, just before junior Isaac Henderson's 262nd-place performance and 25:07.5 mark. Rounding out the River Hawks was junior Dante Castellano (Nashua, N.H.) in 277th with a 25:16.8 mark and senior Keegan Tierney (East Greenwich, R.I.) in 288th with a time of 25:22.9.

"The men got out a little too far back, but were able to salvage a good performance," added Gardner.

Three runners participated in the men's white 8k, and it was graduate student Ethan Mashtare (St. Albans, Vt.) that led the squad in 20th out of 198 runners with a 24:59.2 mark. Sophomore Chris Guerin (Shrewsbury, Mass.) and freshman Sean Finnegan (Hopkinton, Mass.) closed out the race for the River Hawks, claiming 58th and 84th place, respectively, with times of 25:24.8 and 25:44.8. Guerin broke a personal record with his performance.

"Ethan ran well in the white race and would have been our fifth guy in the blue race," said Gardner. "The men ran quicker than I thought they would as a group so thats a good sign."

At UAlbany, junior Jack Courtney was the first UMass Lowell runner to cross the finish line, taking home fifth place out of 28 runners with a 25:49.0 mark. Next was junior Patrick Hall (Billerica, Mass.) in 7th place with a 25:53.0 mark, just before freshman Luke Zahurak (Walpole, Mass.) joined the top-10 group with a ninth-place finish and a personal-best time of 25:58.0. In 11th place was freshman Lucas Gomez (Salem, N.H.) with a time of 26:04.0, as graduate student Nathanael Fondakowski (Pelham, N.H.) earned 14th with a 26:23.0 mark.

A group of four River Hawks finished consecutively from 16th to 19th place. Senior Nicolas Uzzo (East Bridgewater, Mass.) (26:39.0) led the group, followed by senior Dean Allen (Chelmsford, Mass.) (26:43.0), freshman Benjamin Schildgen (Litchfield, Conn.) (26:48.0) and sophomore Jackson Beauparlant (26:50.0). Rounding out the River Hawks was senior Seyha Rath (Lowell, Mass.) (23rd, 27:19.0), freshman Jimmy Kelly (Lowell, Mass.) (24th, 27:30.0) and graduate student Frederick Coleman (Methuen, Mass.) (28th, 29:09.0).

Next, the River Hawks will take on the CCSU Mini Meet on Friday, October 23.