WENHAM, Massachusetts — The University of Maine at Presque Isle men’s cross country squad ran ran to a ninth place finish of the 13 teams at the Gordon College Pop Crowell Invitational held Saturday, Sept. 23.
The team showed its potential for running as a tight pack as the Owls’ top five finishing positions ranged from 46th to 77th in the 106-man field.
“Relative experience and slight injuries are keeping the spread wider than it will eventually be,” said UMPI coach Chris Smith. “With all runners healthy and a few weeks more training, the gap will come down considerably.”
Jesse Gonzalez paced himself well through three miles where he pulled slightly ahead of his teammates. He finished 46th on the eight-kilometer course in 33:20. Kyle Davis was a close 51st, only seven seconds back at 33:27. Team scoring was rounded out by Andrew Hunt, Saul Nunez and Danny Gillotti, who finished in 57th (34:05), 58th (34:15), and 77th (36:47), respectively.
“We have a couple of guys who are finally getting healthy and are showing what they can do,” said Smith. “Our race this Saturday at Bowdoin will give us a strong indication as to what we’ll be doing for the ensuing two weeks leading up to the state meet, back at Bowdoin.”
The UMPI women’s team continued to show progress. At the same venue, the Owls placed ninth out of the 12 complete teams competing.
Emmy Churchill showed marked improvement over her race at Husson College two weeks earlier, finishing 58th on the 5K course at 23:22 in the 125-runner field.
“Emmy cruised through a 6:59 opening mile, a pace that she may well hold as she continues to develop as the year goes by,” Smith said. “With [Chenoa] Jackson and [Elise] Gudde continuing to improve as I know they can, our team outlook will be strong within the next three weeks going into the state meet.”
Jackson and Kendra Silvers supplied the punch in the middle, ending up 76th (25:22) and 79th (25:31), respectively. Gudde was 102nd at 29:59, and Sarina Raposo was 125th with a time of 42:39 in her first ever cross country race.
“Kendra is a tough customer and races hard regardless of conditions,” said Smith. “She is a strong asset to our program. Sarina is new to the sport, and is growing almost daily as she accustoms herself to the training.”
The Owls are at Bowdoin College on Sept. 30, where the women run a 6K and the men an 8K.
