CASTLETON, Vt. -- It was a big day of debuts for the Eastern Connecticut State University Men's and Women's Cross Country teams, as both squads finished second in the Castleton Invitational, a 5K event, on Saturday morning behind strong efforts from first-year Noelia Diaz, who placed fourth overall with a 21:26.6 for the women, and first-year Brayden Dunn who came in fifth place in 17:02.3 for the men.

Junior Keira Warner led the women with a third-place finish in 21:24.2, just two seconds ahead of Diaz, while finishing 18 seconds behind UMass Boston first-year Jayden LaPlant in second, and 56 seconds behind winner Kallie Warner, a junior from Keene State College. First-year Sadie Iselin was ninth for the Warriors in ninth place in her debut, clocking in at 21:41.7, while senior Isabel Cintron placed 15th in 21:31.2, and first-year Kyle Burchall rounded out the top five for Eastern in 26th at 23:39.2 for her first-ever race.

A trio of first-years in Hailey Yahara (29th), Ava Sullivan (31st), and Natalie Leppert (32nd) all finished within a minute of each other in times of 23:56.1, 24:32.2, and 24:51.4, respectively, as Eastern finished second overall with 51 points, while Keene State took the event with 33 points, and UMass Boston placed third with 56 points.

On the men's side, they would place second overall with 42 points, also behind a 28-point performance from Keene State, while WestConn placed third with 81 points. Sophomore Luke Dalton topped out in fourth place in 16:48.5, only seven seconds off of UMass Boston junior Albert Ferreras, who won the event, while Dunn was fifth in a time of 17:02.3, as one of three Warriors in the top 10. Senior Zachary D'Andrea was the other top-10 finisher in eighth place, finishing in 17:10.2 in the event.

Sophomore Kyle Kornacki and junior Joey Caruk each finished near each other on the leaderboard in 12th and 14th, respectively, posting times of 17:43.1 and 17:54.5, while sophomore Hayden Baber was 19th in 18:05 on the dot. In all, 12 runners for Eastern took part in the Castleton Invitational, with first-year runners Owen Cipirano and Gerry Hall taking 22nd and 23rd in 18:24.9 and 18:28.1, followed by sophomore Khentrell Graham's 18:35.6 finish to give him 24th. 

First-year runners Noah Chaloult and Andrew Butryman were 30th and 31st overall, finishing three seconds apart in 19:24.8 and 19:27.8, while senior Ian Vasquez's 42nd-place finish in 21:04.4 rounded out the pack for the Warriors. Eastern now prepares to head to the George Suitor Invitational in Manchester, Connecticut, at 10:00 AM next Saturday.