BOSTON – Sophomores stole the spotlight for the Eastern Connecticut State University cross country teams at the Little East Conference Championship Saturday at Franklin Park, but the Warriors' opponents, ultimately, stole the show.
 
Entertaining an outside chance of winning their first LEC cross country championship if their opponents faltered in any way, both Eastern teams – each of who fell just a point shy of titles last fall -- represented themselves admirably, but fell short in their bids for LEC gold.
 
Both women's team champion Keene State College and men's titlist Plymouth State University ran the near-perfect races that left their challengers in their dust and made them runaway winners. Eastern was Keene's nearest competitor but could not seriously contend as the Owls grabbed five of the top 12 places, putting their No. 5 runner ahead of Eastern's No. 4. Keene totalled 33 points. Eastern's 51 points, however, were 41 points better than Massachusetts Dartmouth's 92.
 
Plymouth roughly matched Keene's point total with 34 points but had an easier day than the Owls. Led by individual winner Michael Olson, the Panthers put their top three runners among the first six. The Panthers won by 43 points over runner-up UMass Dartmouth, which won a three-way battle for second place with Eastern and Southern Maine.  UMass Dartmouth totalled 77 points, three better than Eastern and ten ahead of Southern Maine.
 
Nineteenth overall as Eastern's No. 6 runner in her first season last year,  sophomore Alison LeClerc (Wolcott) finished sixth in a field of 71 in a time of 20:28 over 5,000 meters Saturday to earn first-team All-LEC recognition in the women's race awarded to the top seven individual finishers.
 
First-year sophomore transfer Dylan McGuire (Preston) was Eastern's top male finisher, covering the 8,000 meter course in 27:08 to earn second-team All-LEC honors with a 12^th-place finish.
 
All five of the women's scoring runners earned All-LEC honors, which was matched only by Keene State. Following first-team honoree LeClerc, four Eastern runners finished between eighth and 14 that was recognized as second-team All-LEC. Senior Keara Fontaine (North Kingstown, RI) was eighth, senior Kelsey Zator (Scotland) tenth, junior Elisabeth Rodil (Milford, NH) 13^th and first-year runner Meghan Georgescu (Cheshire) 14^th.
 
McGuire was the men's only All-LEC qualifier, but Eastern's other scorers crossed the line in a span of eight seconds.  Former All-LEC performer Ryan Escoda (Newtown) was 15^th, junior Thomas Stone (Glastonbury) 16^th, first-year junior transfer Michael Parzych (Berlin) 18^th and senior Jorich Swift (Mansfield) 19^th.
 
Eastern competes at the NCAA Mideast Regional Nov. 12 at Canton, N