WATERFORD, Conn. -- With the men's and women's field at the Connecticut College Invitational stacked with regionally and nationally-ranked teams, a Top Ten finish was not a realistic goal for Eastern Connecticut State University Saturday morning at Harkness Memorial State Park.
 
The meet – one of the most competitive this season in the Northeast – did serve two purposes for the Warriors, however: As a final official tuneup for the Little East Conference Championships in two weeks, and as a dry run for the season-ending NCAA Division III Mideast Regionals which are schedule to be staged at Harkness in just under a month.
 
Saturday, the Eastern men were the top finishers among teams not ranked regionally or nationally, placing 16^th in a field of 26. In seniors Ryan Escoda (Newtown) and  John Walker (Westerly, RI), the Warriors featured two of the Top 100 finishers in a field of 192 over the 8000 meter course.
 
The Eastern women, rebuilding after losing four of its top five runners from it most recent LEC championship in 2019, placed 23^rd in a field of 27 teams Saturday. The field included 16 regionally-ranked teams (all ten in the Mideast Region),  ten of whom appeared in the most recent national Top 35. Behind the Warriors were LEC squads Keene State College (24^th) and Western Connecticut (26^th).
 
In all, ten teams in the men's field were ranked among the national Top 35 and seven more were rated in the Top 10 regionally. The invitational's top 15 team finishers were ranked either nationally or regionally. Competing were nine of the teams currently ranked in the NCAA Mideast Region Top 10.
 
A serious challenger for their first championship in the 33-year history of the Little East Conference men's cross country championships, the Eastern men were first among three LEC teams competing in the race. Keene State College, a 15-time LEC titlist, was 23^rd overall and Western Connecticut was 25^th (WestConn will be competing in its third LEC championship this fall). In its final outing prior to the LEC Championship, four-time defending LEC champ University of Southern Maine, an eight-time winner of the LEC meet, was sixth overall in a field of 23 teams Saturday at the Suffolk University Invitational Saturday. Among Division III teams in the meet, the Huskies placed only behind Colby College, Bowdoin College and Babson College – all ranked in the NCAA Mideast Region.
 
Escoda (26:42) , an All-LEC cross country runner as a sophomore, paced Eastern runners for the 15^th time in 16 career races with a scoring finish of 77^th, while Walker (27:01) was competing in his second race this fall after joining the team in mid-season, and placed 89^th. Senior Jorich Swift had 103 scoring points and was timed in 27:34, sophomore Jake Haddad (Vernon) had 115 scoring points in a time of 27:52, and first-year runner Noah Linton (Tolland) had 145 scoring points in a time of 28:58. Linton is also working himself into shape after joining the program in September.
 
Rounding out Eastern's top seven were first-year runner Liam Stafford (Alexandria, VA) and sophomore Thomas Engle (Plainfield).  Stafford (29:05) was just seven seconds behind Linton and totalled 146 points and Engle clocked a 32:12, good for 165 points.
 
Senior Maggie Santacroce (Bristol), Eastern's seventh runner on the 2019 LEC title team,  led the Eastern women Saturday with an overall finish of 128 with a time of 25:12 over 6,000 meters. Junior Kelsey Zator (Scotland) was 146^th overall in a time of 25:52 and was followed closely by sophomore Elisabeth Rodil (Milford, NH), who was 147^th in a time of 25:55. Junior Keara Fontaine (North Kingstown, RI) and first-year runner Iris Bazinet (Pomfret)  closed out Eastern's scoring. Fontaine (26:30) , Eastern's No. 3 runner at the 2019 LEC Championship, was 165^th overall and Bazinet (26:35) was close behind in 168^th place.
 
Competing in her first varsity race, first-year runner Nicole Popham (Bethel) was sixth for the Warriors and junior Jill McGahan (Dedham, MA) seventh, finishing 172^nd (26:48) and 173rd (27:02), respectively.
 
The LEC Championships will be staged Oct. 30 at Castleton University, where both Eastern teams won four-team invitationals to open the season Sept. 3. Led by 1-2-3 finishers Escoda, Haddad and Swift, the men captured five of the top six spots at that meet, and the women took five of the top eight spots.