Men's Cross Country 10/17/2015 12:00:00 AM

Cross Country Teams Tune Up at Conn Invite

WATERFORD – Competing in one of their most challenging fields in the final regular-season meet of the season, the Eastern Connecticut State University women's and men's cross country teams placed 19^th and 22^nd overall, respectively, under perfect running conditions and on a relatively flat course at the Connecticut College Invitational at Harkness Memorial State Park Saturday.

Both the men and women have incorporated speed workouts this past week and are beginning the tapering process for the Little East Conference Championships in two week at Keene State College, and for the NCAA Division III New England Regional Championships next month on the same Harkness course.

Three of women's scorers are freshmen

Three of the women's five scorers were freshmen, with Samantha McKosky (Deep River) overcoming a number of injuries to lead the way for the fourth time this year with an overall finish of 65^th in a field of 300, with freshman Megan Albert (Planstville) the team's fourth finisher and freshman Haley Knox (Bristol) its fifth. Juniors Mariah McPhee (Bristol) and Sofia Amaral (New Milford) were the Warriors No. 2 and No. 3 runners. McPhee, one of the team's most consistent contributors over the last three years -- was 138^th overall, Amaral 177^th, Albert 190^th and Knox 214^th. Amaral nosed out Trinity freshman Jane Provost at the finish.

For the first time this season, the women's race was run over 6,000 meters – the distance of the NCAA Division III New England Regionals.

MIT and Tufts – two of the top six finishers in last year's NCAA New England Regional Championships – placed 1-2 Saturday. The Engineers edged the Jumbos, 62-67, with Keene State College of the Little East Conference third with 108 points. Carleton College of Minnesota – one of the perennially most successful programs in the Midwest – was fourth with 111 points.

Amanda Terenzi, a sophomore on the women's team, contributed to this meet account.

Freshman Abdelsame back on top for men

The speed work and tapering process paid dividends Saturday, with the men running strong, competitive times.

Freshman Omar Abdelsame (Plainville) paced the men's team for the second time this year, returning to competition after missing the CCRI Tri-State Open two weeks ago. Abdelsame was 114^th overall in a field of 295 runners over 8,000 meters in a race which was won easily by MIT – third a year ago at the NCAA regionals – with 49 points.

Eastern's five men's scorers ran as a group, with sophomore Cooper Goslin (South Windsor) – the team leader at CCRI – second to Abdelsame (132^nd overall), juniors Mike Underwood (Farmington) 161^st, and Chris Armstrong (Bolton) 186^th, and sophomore Noah Hallisey (East Lyme) 197^th. The five were separated by only 75 seconds. Goslin and Underwood ran career personal bests, with co-captains Armstrong and senior Steven LaFlamme (Moosup) also checking in with their best times of 2015.