By Matt Sinkewicz / Sports Information Staff
LINCOLN, R.I. -- Eastern Connecticut State University's men's and women's cross country teams raced this weekend at the Community College of Rhode Island Tri-State Open, competing at the college's Lincoln campus.
At right: Joe Rainville
The Eastern women's team finished third out of seven teams, and the men tied for second in a field of ten teams.
However, the scoreboard doesn't always tell the full story.
Four of the girls -- junior Kelly Labanara (Chaplin) and freshmen Mariah McPhee (Bristol), Sofia Amaral (New Milford), and Julie Trifone (Cheshire) all finished in the top 15. Three of the men – senior Evan Glaude (East Hampton), first-year sophomore Taylor Flynn (Old Saybrook), and freshman Joe Rainville (Montville) also finished in the top 15. Even more amazing is that five of the women and two of the men did not run because they were ill.
Head coach Kathy Manizza credits this success to the tough practices the week leading up to the meet. "Since we didn't have a meet last week, we had 10 and 12 mile runs in practice to try to prepare as best we could for this meet."
Labanara (5th overall) and Flynn (11th) were first across the line Saturday for their respective programs for the fourth straight race. Rainville and Glaude followed by checking in at 12th and 15th, respectively (just 13 seconds apart) over the 8,000 meter course, to provide the Warriors with a solid top three. Sophomore Steven LaFlamme (Moosup) ignited the second wave of Eastern men's runners by finishing 23rd, with freshmen Mike Underwood (Farmington) and Chris Burkle (Guilford) engaged in a battle as the team's fifth and final scorer in 25th and 26th place, respectively.
McPhee and Amaral supported Labanara by steaming in two seconds apart in eighth and ninth place, respectively, giving the Warriors three of the top nine finishers. Trifone was Eastern's fourth finisher in 15th place overall. Bridgewater, however, won the duel for second place in the team standings. The Bears' No. 5 runner, freshman Brittany Reed, took 13th place to secure second place for Bridgewater behind team winner Wheaton College (MA), eight points better than Eastern. First-year sophomore Kelsey Nixon (Ledyard) rounded out Eastern's five scorers with an overall finish of 30th, scoring 25 points, to allow the Warriors to ease to a 45-point victory over fourth-place finisher Roger Williams University.
Manizza is excited for the future of the program because of the development of the underclassmen, as seven of the women are newcomers to the program, as are eight of the men. The two teams have a combined total of 11 freshmen.
Eastern will be idle again this Saturday before competing at the Western New England University Invitational Oct. 19, then will have another two-week layoff in preparation for the Little East Conference/New England Alliance Championship Nov. 2.
