Billy Peterson
Contributing Writer
Both the men’s and women’s cross country teams traveled to Williams College this past Saturday to compete in this year’s ECAC Division III Championship.
For the women’s team, they were looking to bounce back strong after finishing eighth out of 10th teams in the prior weekends NEWMAC Championships. Racing in the 6k event, the women were able to hold their own in a meet that featured 42 teams.
The women were led by Gabby Gaudreault, who is one of just four juniors on the team. Gaudreault finished fifth overall with a time of 23:21.91. The impressive time gave Gaudreault the top time among juniors who ran in the race.
To put Gaudreault’s win in perspective, her average mile time was 6:16.1, and she finished fifth out of 284 runners.
Behind Gaudreault, was sophomore Sarah Knop, who finished 74th crossing the line in 25:14.41. Rounding out the day for Springfield was junior Morgan Mrak, 80th overall with a time 25:17.42, sophomore Nora Letendre, placing 114th in 26:04.29, and freshman Samantha Pomory who finished 134th overall in 26:25.92. Considering the 15th place finish for the Pride, without any seniors running in this year’s ECAC Division III Championships, the future looks bright for Springfield women’s cross country.
For the men, sophomore Mike Sherry led the Pride to a 17th place finish out of 43 teams, the exact same place they found themselves at the conclusion of last season’s ECAC Division III Championships.
Sherry finished the meet in 82nd place after crossing the line in 28:48.55. Close behind Sherry was another underclassmen, freshman Jacob Simons who finished 86th overall with a time of 28:54.48. The slim difference in times for Sherry and Simons shows how close together many of the runners finished.
In third for the Pride was sophomore Joe Geurds who finished with a time of 29:18.78, which was good enough for 110th place. For Geurds, this time was slightly behind the 28:40.90 time that he posted as a freshman at last season’s ECAC Division III Championships.
Rounding out SC’s competition was junior Corey Hamel, finishing 113th overall in 29:27.55, senior Steven Gilfeather, finishing 151st overall in 30:18.86, sophomore Tyler Leahy, finishing 158th overall in 30:29.60, and sophomore Scott Bushey, finishing 163rd place in 30:38.14. In the men’s meet, there were 287 total runners.
Both the men’s and women’s cross country teams will compete in the NCAA Division III Championships in Westfield, Mass. this weekend.