By Brendan Driscoll/Sports Information Staff
WESTFIELD, Mass. – Junior Alexa Palasky (Griswold) and sophomore Austin Baldour (Newtown) recorded personal records for the Eastern Connecticut State University men's and women's cross country teams at the New England Open Championships Sunday at Stanley Park.
In a meet in which Division III athletes competed with those from Division I and II, several Eastern runners recorded their best times of the season, despite the fact that the course was challenging.
The 5,000 (women) and 8,000 (men) meter courses both began in an open field leading to woods, which contained a narrow path. This path may have slowed runners due to the amount of roots and rocks, which lead to careful stepping the runners. The course also contained a significant steep hill that the women had to handle once at the 2.5-mile mark and the men had to run twice at the 3 and 4.5-mile marks (Eastern will also run this Oct. 27 at the Little East Conference Championships and Nov. 10 at the NCAA Division III national qualifier).
Women's team runs as a unit
The women's team ran as a tight pack throughout the race. The five scoring runners all finished within 57 seconds of each other. The women's team placed 35th in the 38-team field, which was comprised of 251 runners. According to head coach Kathy Manizza, Palasky had a breakthrough race as Eastern's second runner, recording a personal record time of 20:24. She recorded this time not knowing that she had bronchitis for the race.
The fact that the women's team ran in a pack helped throughout the race for Palasky who admitted that "running so close to my team definitely helped me relax and settle into the pace." She also added that at the 1.5 mile mark, a teammate began to break away from the group so her competitive nature made her try to stay with her. Palasky also hopes to improve her personal record in upcoming races this season. She hopes to stay healthy the rest of the season and with two more races at Stanley Park in the next month, she feels that better times are definitely possible.
Junior Katie France (Portland) finished first for Eastern with a time of 20:19, improving her time by 34 seconds from her previous run on this course last year. Another runner who recorded a personal record was freshman Kylie McCartney (Manchester) who was the third runner for Eastern with a time of 20:29, just 10 seconds behind France. Eastern's No. 4 runner was senior Cora Gingras (East Hampton) with a time of 21:03, while freshman Courtney Magario (Voluntown) clocked a time of 21:16 as the team's fifth and final scoring runner.
Even though the men's and women's teams did not score well in this ultra-competitive field, numerous runners ran well individually. The meet was a good experience for the team because it competed against some of the best teams at all levels in New England. Division I teams claimed the top four team places in both the men's and women's races Sunday, with Dartmouth winning the men's face and Boston College the women's race.
Manizza is confident the team is just going to get better and better throughout the season. Also the team will run this course two more times during the season, so it will be interesting to see the improvement over the next few meets.
The next meet for the Eastern cross country team will be Friday, October 19th at the Central Connecticut State University Mini-Meet in New Britain.
