Conn College Invite @ Harkness Park

The new member of the Hawks Zoey!!

The Hawks were once again on the road for another XC meet. This time in Waterford, CT at Harkness Park for the Connecticut College Invite.  The Hawks left for the meet at 8:15am that Saturday. Charter bus and food awaiting for the Hawks arrival. The hour long ride had a calm and quiet atmosphere. With the athletes listening to their music, reading, or watching Happy Gilmore with Adam Sandler, which was provided by Freshman John Busque, the athletes were ready to run.  The ride had a lot of tired people on the bus since I heard that a lot of the athletes couldn't sleep the night before. Tossing and turning in the beds turns into a bad night for athletes especially runners that run long distances like our very own Hawks.  Bodies are tired, exhausted,  and need the rest. Could have been pre-meet jitters, hunger, or just couldn't sleep at all it was just one of those nights. Well what ever it was the Hawks got over it and slept on the bus ride there.  Reaching Harkness Park the first thing the athletes felt was the gust of wind and cold current coming off the water side of the park.  It was a beautiful park with a flower garden and as Ellen Crandall, our program administrator said, "a 100 year old tree." To see nature at its best during the fall is beauty for any photographer.  Just ask photographer and runner Josh Hummel, a senior here at the university loves to take pictures where ever he goes and even takes pictures while he does his warm-up. The guys went first at this meet and were very happy to get the 8k run over with while the girls ran after in their 6k run.  An extra kilometer than they usually run. As the gun goes off, you wonder the strategy for these runners. How are they going to run this race, what do they want their mile pace to be, and where in the pack do they want to be before making the move to catch runners? I can't tell you, why don't you ask a XC runner and see what they tell you.

The guys getting ready. Wow Are those Pink shoes!!!

The guys 8k race was off and they started towards the beach. A beautiful shot and cool breeze coming off the ocean while hitting the rocks below. The race was a fast faced race and didn't have any demise of being a great race for all competitors running. The winner of the race was Tom Bocchino from the College of New Jersey.  He finished the race in a time of 25:27 with a mile pace of 5:08.  Right behind him was Daniel Gaunya of Southern Connecticut State University in a time of 25:39.  The winner of the team scores was  University of Connecticut with 59 points.  Surprisingly they tied with Tufts University who also scored 59 points. The Hawks had a team score of 206 points which was good for 7th place out of 19 teams. The top runner for the Hawks was Andrew Chalmers who ran the 8k course in 26:32 and placed 26th out of the 225 runners that ran on Saturday.  The second Hawk to come in was Eric Flaman who placed 35th in the field with a time of 26:44. After Eric was Senior Jonas Hampton who finished with a time of 26:53 for 47th place.  Wayne Lawrence was the 4th Hawk to come in for the team.  He finished the 8k course in 27:03 and right behind him finishing was Kevin Brandon who completed the course in 27:12.  This rounded out the top 5 spots for the guys team.  The other runners Bobby Giuliani, John Busque, Josh Hummel, Brian Famigletti, and  Christopher Rodriguez all finished the 8k course with high competitive fashion as they knew they had next weekend off to recover.

The Girls Striding it out

The ladies 6k run was off within 30mins of the guys race was over.  Each and every lady was on the line for their team ready to run and improve times. Running the same way the guys went at the start, the girls were off and ready to beat the competition.  In the front of the pack we see Freshman Megan Barry up with the lead runners.  This is the way she loves to run so we knew she was ready to take on some faster foes.  As the rest of the girls bunched in with the rest of the runners, teamwork was definitely a key player for the race.  To win you have to have the fastest times for the race and the highest placed finishers.  This is how it would all go down for the whole race.  The winner of the race was Alyson Dalton of Cortland State University with a time of 22:12 for the 6k course.  Right behind her was Alina Gatowski of MIT running a time of 22:26.  The winner for the team was Tufts University with a total of 53 points.  The Lady Hawks scored 223 points finishing in 9th  place out of 18 teams.  A high position for the team going into an off week of competition.  For the Lady Hawks, the top finisher was Megan Barry who was 6th overall in the meet finishing the 6k course in a time of 23:11.  The next Hawk to cross the line was Jen Flores finishing the 6k course in 24:05 while crossing the line 38th in the field.  The 3rd Hawk to cross the line was Marisa Poleto. She finished the course in 24:22 placing 48th and right behind her was Kayla Koonz. She finished the course in a time of 24:44 placing 67th out of 199 girls running.  The 5th girl to finish the course for the Hawks was Catherine Carey running a time of 25:10 placing 89th out of the field of girls.  Stephanie Curcio and  Leslie Garabedian both ran competitively finishing with great times for each of them.  Finishing in great fashion for the race that they haven't run all season, each girl was happy with the performance for the day.

The Hawks XC Team minus some people 

As the day ended, the Hawks continued onto the bus for a nice ride home.  Everyone happy that the day was finally over and can relax when back on campus.  Tired and sore, the athletes had a great time and even watched Mean Girls on the way back. Don't know who requested that movie, but I can tell you that not everyone on the bus watched it.

The Hawks have next week off as they join the Track Team for the Annual Intersquad Meet that was started last year.  The weekend after that the Hawks return for the America East Championship meet at Franklin Park in Boston, MA.  Championship Season starts NOW!!

For complete results of the meet click on the links below.
Men's Individual Results
Men's Team Results
Women's Individual Results
Women's Team Results