By Matt Sinkewicz / Sports Information Staff
GORHAM, Maine – The Eastern Connecticut State University men and women's cross country teams were at Narragansett School this past Saturday for the 2013 Little East Conference and New England Alliance championships.
Photo: Alexa Palasky, Evan Glaude
The Eastern women's team finished an encouraging third in the seven-team LEC field, its highest finish ever since the meet was expanded from a four-team format in 1999. The men's team was fifth for the fifth straight season.
The New England Alliance is a combination of the Little East and the Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference (MASCAC). The Eastern women finished fifth among 15 teams, equaling its second-best finish in the 17-year history of the event. The women's best finish came in 2000 in a field of only nine teams. The men were tenth, their lowest spot since placing 11th among 13 teams in 2007.
The women ran extremely well thanks in part to the return of senior Alexa Palasky (Griswold). Palasky had missed the last two weeks because of an illness and an academic obligation. However, she ran a 30-second personal record at the conference championship with a time of 20:30, which was good enough for second place on the team, 32nd overall in a field of 158 alliance runners and 24th of 75 in the conference meet.
Junior Kelly Labanara (Chaplin) led the Warriors at the finish again in a time of 20:06 over the 5,000 meter layout, placing 19th in the alliance and 16th in the Little East. Behind Palasky were freshmen Sofia Amaral (New Milford), Mariah McPhee (Bristol), and Julie Trifone (Cheshire).
Injuries have plagued the women's team all season. Senior Katie France (Portland), a projected top runner for the women, missed the entire season due to injury.
The men's top runner, first-year sophomore Taylor Flynn (Old Saybrook) sustained a hamstring injury in the week leading up to the race. He decided to tough it out, but Head coach Kathy Manizza advised him to take it easy to avoid long-term damage as he heads into training for indoor track next week.
"We told him to start slow until his hamstring started to warm up," Manizza stated.
Flynn listened to his coach, and as a result he was one of the last people to cross the one-mile mark. However, once his hamstring loosened up he was able to shift gears, and eventually finished third on the team. Senior Evan Glaude (East Hampton) led the Warriors at the tape for the first time in his career, clocking a time of 28:59 over five miles which placed him 61st in the alliance scoring and 34th in the Little East calculations.
Freshman Joe Rainville (Montville) ran alongside Glaude, checking in two seconds later, two spots back of Glaude in both the alliance and conference scoring. Flynn, sophomore Steven LaFlamme (Moosup), and freshman Michael Underwood (Farmington) were within five spots and nine seconds of one another to round out the men's five scoring runners.
Manizza was happy with the performances of both teams. "They have battled injuries all season, but that has never gotten the best of them," she stated. "I am very proud of everyone, and I can't wait until next season."
The meet was the final one for the teams, who will not compete in either the ECAC or regional championships later this month.
The cross-country teams are loaded in underclassmen talent. With all the injuries, the younger runners had to pick up the slack, and doing so has been a great learning experience. Manizza is very happy with their progress.
"Coming out of high school, a lot of people are used to being the best runners on their team. Once they get to the collegiate level though, that may not be the case. Learning to run as a team, and motivating each other to keep going are some of the most important factors to being a successful team."
So what's next for the Eastern cross-country teams? A couple months off to rest and prepare for next season? Nope… Just a week of rest, then right back to practice for the 2013-14 indoor track and field season, which official begins Dec. 7 at the University of Massachusetts Boston Open at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston.
It sure is a tough life for the cross-country team.
