CASTLETON, Vt. -- It was the definition of a pack mentality in the standings for Eastern Connecticut State University Men's Cross Country at the Little East Conference Championship Meet hosted by Castleton University on Saturday. With four Warriors finishing one after another inside the top 20, Eastern finished third in the event for the second time in three years, while Keene State College claimed its third consecutive LEC Championship and 18th overall.

Just beyond Eastern in third was UMass Dartmouth, which claimed one of the top three spots, while Keene State's Tyler Bolaske took the meet in 25:12.6, almost 20 seconds ahead of his teammate, senior Griffin Urnezis, who finished second overall. With the top 14 runners earning All-LEC honors, including 8-14 being named to the Second Team, sophomore Luke Dalton and junior Noah Hauswirth were both named to the Second Team, finishing 13th and 14th, respectively.

Dalton finished just five seconds ahead of Hauswirth, coming across the line in 26:43.3, while Hauswirth closed in a time of 26:48.0, which marked two of the four runners in a row that crossed the line for Eastern. After the All-Conference duo came both senior Zach D'Andrea in 26:51.2 and first-year Brayden Dunn in 26:52.8 to claim 15th and 16th place. 

The top five Eastern runners were capped off by junior Joey Caruk in 22nd, crossing in 27:16.3, but six runners would still be in the mix for the Warriors, as sophomore Kyle Kornacki came in 40th at 28:28.9 with first-year Gerry Hall nearby in 49th in a time of 28:59.9. 

Down the back stretch of the competitors, first-year Luke Nichols continued his late-season build, finishing just under 30 minutes in 29:44.4 for a 56th-place finish. Sophomore Hayden Baber and first-year Noah Chaloult were 60th and 61st overall, finishing 12 seconds apart in 30:04.4 and 30:14.7, while senior Ian Vasquez was 83rd with a time of 33:04.5 to close out the meet for Eastern's runners.

The Warriors will now head to the NCAA DIII Mid-East Regionals on November 14th at 11:00 AM, hosted by Trinity College.