BRUNSWICK, Maine – For the second straight year, Eastern Connecticut State University seniors Samantha McKosky (Deep River) and Haley Knox (Bristol) finished 1-2 for the Warriors at the New England Division III Regional Cross Country Championships, run in wet and cold conditions over 6,000 meters Saturday.

McKosky led Eastern at the finish in this race for the third time in her four-year career in a time of 23:50, placing 95^th overall in a field of 399 finishers. Knox was 120^th in a time of 24:09. Both improved their lot from a year ago, when McKosky was 121^st  and Knox 136^th.

As a team, Eastern placed in the top 40 percent with a finish of 22^nd among 57 scoring teams.  It was second among the eight Little East Conference teams which competed. The Warriors were 27^th among 56 teams in 2017.

Competing as one of Eastern's top seven for the first time at the championship, junior Samara Johnson (Lebanon) ran third for Eastern (24:29) – 142^nd overall – with junior Rachel Osak (Portland) and senior Christina Gosselin (Old Saybrook) rounding out Eastern's scoring runners. Osak (24:41) also improved by nearly 100 spots from a year ago when she ran the race for the first time. Gosselin (25:01) moved up roughly 100 spots to 187^th this year from her freshman and sophomore places (she did not compete last year).

Completing Eastern's Top 7 were first-year runners Lauren Bresson (Roxbury), a sophomore, and junior Maggie Dulak (Northford), who crossed the finish line in tandem. Bresson (25:23.02) was 213^th, Dulak (25:23.48) 214^th.

Sophomore Sylvia Lawrence (Woodstock), who qualified as one of the team's Top 7 in last year's New England meet, did not compete this year due to illness.

After sitting out the first meet of the season due to injury, McKosky led the team in the last six races of her career. Prior to Saturday, she was 21^st among 318 at UMass Dartmouth, fourth among 152 at Gordon, first in a field of 61 at the Tri-State Championships, sixth among 122 at Western New England and fifth in a field of 78 at the Little East Conference Championships Oct. 27..