Cross Country: In Final Preparation for Little East Conference Championship in Two Weeks, Warriors Face National-Level Competition at Connecticut College Invitational

10/20/2024 11:17:00 AM

WATERFORD, Conn. -- To beat the best, you have to compete against the best, and the Eastern Connecticut State University men's and women's cross country teams did just that Saturday, competing against the "B" teams of many of Division III's top programs at Harkness Memorial State Park.

In the "Blue" race, Eastern was led again by senior co-captain Ali LeClerc (Wolcott) on the women's side and sophomore Zachary D'Andrea (Wallingford) and first-year runner Sam Ambrocio (Beacon Falls) on the men's side. LeClerc scored 134 points in an overall 142 finish while D'Andrea crossed the finish line simultaneously with overall finishes of 151-152, scoring 140 and 141 points.

On the women's side, Eastern was joined by Little East Conference foes Keene State College and Massachusetts Dartmouth. Keene placed 21st overall with a 1:58.06 combined time while UMass Dartmouth was 33rd overall (2:01.39), edging Eastern (35th), which had a combined time of 2:03.25. In the LEC pre-season poll, Keene trimmed Eastern for the top spot with 62 points (7 first-place votes), the Warriors commanding 58 points (2 first-place votes).

The Eastern women placed second in last year's LEC Championship, 15 points behind host Keene State. Eastern returns two All-LEC performers from that race in junior co-captain Meghan Georgescu (Cheshire) and LeClerc. Georgescu earned first-team honors with an overall fourth-place finish, and LeClerc second-team recognition in ninth place.

In terms of LEC finishes, it was more of the same on the men's side, with Keene State leading with an overall 20th-place finish (2:12.13), with UMass Dartmouth 27th (2:14.31) having just enough to hold off Eastern 29th (2:14.58) by just :27 combined seconds. UMass Dartmouth and Keene State took the 3-4 spots in the LEC pre-season men's poll, with Eastern fifth.

At last year's LEC Championship, the Eastern men placed fifth and return three of its top five from that race in graduate student Michael Parzych (Berlin), junior tri-captain Digby Ludlow (Preston) and D'Andrea. Parzych was 24th overall, Ludlow 33rd and D'Andrea 44th. Gone from a year ago is Jake Haddad, who took seventh place overall as a first-year All-LEC runner.

Defending men's champion and pre-season favorite Plymouth State University was idle Saturday after placing fifth among 14 teams Oct. 11 at the Bruce Krish Cross Country Cup, hosted by Franklin Pierce College at the Hopkinton (NH) Fair Grounds. The Panthers were the highest-ranked Division III team at the meet, which included mostly Division II squad. Dylan Flewelling topped Plymouth with a tenth-place finish in a field of 124 finishers over 8,000 meters.

UMass Dartmouth will host the LEC Championship Nov. 2 at the Robert Dowd Cross Country Course. On Sept. 21, the Eastern men placed 28th in a field of 44 teams on that court, with the women 26th in a field of 45 teams.

at Connecticut College Invitational
at Harkness Memorial State Park

Women's Results
Blue Race
Run over 6,000 meters

Team Results
(37 Teams)
Top 10

1 MIT 83; 2. NYU 101; 3. Williams College 106; 4. Washington & Lee U. 189; 5. Amherst College 211; 6. St. Olaf College 217; 7. Tufts U. 217; 8. Middlebury College 249; 9. Connecticut College 254; 10. Vassar College 265.
35. EASTERN CONN. 958

Individual Results
(277 Finishers)

EASTERN FINISHERS
Overall finish (scoring points)

142 (134) Ali LeClerc 23:32; 190 (178) Isabel Cintron 23:23; 224 (210) Carly Alston 25:01; 227 (213) Meghan Georgescu 25:07; 237 (223) Ella Campion 25:20; 265 (246) Dara Fournier 26:59; Kayla LaMalfa 266 (247) 27:05;
273 (--) Keira Warner 27:48.

Men's Results
Blue Race
Run over 8,000 meters

Team Results
(35 Teams)
Top 10

1 NYU 80; 2. St. Olaf College 95; 3. Williams College 128; 4. Amherst College 134; 5. Middlebury College 157; 6. Tufts U. 171; 7. MIT 190; 8. St. Lawrence U. 279; 9. Bates College 323; 10. Bowdoin College 323.
29. EASTERN CONN. 795

Individual Results
(269 Finishers)

EASTERN FINISHERS
Overall finish (scoring points)

151 (140) Zachary D'Andrea 26:41; 152 (141) Sam Ambrocio 26:41; 179 (167) Michael Parzych 27:07; 181 (169) Dylan McGuire 27:08; 192 (178) Reynaldo Torres 27:20; 203 (188) 27:30; 265 (238) Digby Ludlow 30:11;

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