WATERFORD, Conn. – Two weeks of hard training paid dividends for the Eastern Connecticut State University cross country teams, both of whom excelled at the Connecticut College Invitational Saturday morning at Harkness Memorial State Park.
 
Competing in the White Race, the Eastern men placed four runners among the top 22 – with sophomore Noah Linton (Toland) cracking the Top 10 in ninth place in a time of 26:34 -- in racing to a second-place finish in a field of 14 scoring teams over 8,000 meters. The Warriors totalled 99 points as the top New England finisher, trailing only Allegheny College's 72 points.
 
The women enjoyed similar results in a field of 14 teams which scored points, placing two among the Top 25 and taking third place over 6,000 meters with 128 points behind only Westfield State University (74) and Springfield College (88). Sophomore Alison LeClerc (Wolcott) was 11^th overall in a time of 24:20 and senior Keara Fontaine (North Kingstown, RI) was 23^rd at 24:44.
 
Scoring behind Linton for the men were first-year junior transfer Dylan McGuire (Preston), junior Thomas Stone (Glastonbury), senior Ryan Escoda (Newtown) and first-year junior transfer Michael Parzych (Berlin). McGuire 13^th, Stone 17^th, Escoda 22^nd and Parzych scored 38 points with a 39^th-place finish.
 
For the women, senior Kelsey Zator (Scotland) scored 27 points with an overall 28^th-place finish, junior Elisabeth Rodil (Milford, NH) scored 29 points at No. 30, and sophomore Iris Bazinet (Pomfret) added 38 points with an overall finish of 40^th.
 
Eastern competes at the Little East Conference Championships Oct. 29 at Franklin Park in Boston. The men and women both placed second a year ago by a point at the meet at Castleton, VT.