The Massachusetts men’s and women’s cross country teams faced top of the line national competition at the Paul Short Invite in Bethlehem, Pa. on Friday.
Out of 45 teams, the men’s team finished in the middle of the pack competing at Lehigh.
The Minutemen finished 30th of 42 teams in last year’s Paul Short Invite and looked to improve on that performance with eight new additions to the 2011 team.
UMass coach Ken O’Brien is entering his 45th year as coach of the men’s cross country team.
O’Brien’s team placed 27th but was up against squads such as Oklahoma, Syracuse and Princeton, which all rank among the top 20 teams in the country.
UMass graduate student Sean Duncan was a catalyst for the Minutemen. He ran a time of 25 minutes, 28 seconds in the 8K race, which placed 86th overall in the competition. This was the second-straight week Duncan led the squad.
Other top performers for UMass were sophomore Patrick McGowan and senior Patrick McAllister. McGowan finished right behind Duncan at 139th overall and trailing him was McAllister at 155th.
Other leaders for the Minutemen included Michael Giardina and sophomore Antony Taylor, who have been steady contributors all year. Taylor crossed 181st overall, while the freshmen, Giardina, ended with a 240th overall rank.
The men’s team looks forward to the New England Championships on Oct. 8.
Minutewomen finish 38th
The Minutewomen, meanwhile, were led by senior Karen Roa, who finished 42nd overall at the Paul Shore Invite on Friday.
Along with the men, the women’s team faced grueling competition in Bethlehem this week. The other schools included the nation’s top cross country team, Georgetown. Nationally ranked teams, including No. 3 Providence and No. 5 Villanova also competed on Friday.
Julie LaFreniere is the coach of the Minutewomen and is in her 25th year since joining cross country and the track and field team. She has won the Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year six times and has led UMass to seven A-10 cross country championships.
LaFreniere’s Minutewomen have been driven all year by Roa, who was the team leader with a 21:20 finish. No runner for UMass has had a performance like Roa’s since 2007 when Christian DeRosa crossed the line at 21:17 in 21st.
Junior Courtney Baldwin finally returned on Friday after being one of the Minutewomen’s top runners as a sophomore last year. She finished with a solid time of 23:22, finishing in 215th.
Many underclassmen had great impact on the results for the women’s team. Just in from of Baldwin was freshmen Rachel Hilliard in 208th. Hilliard has been in the top three runners on the team in every event this season.
Freshmen Katie Powers placed 223rd overall while sophomore Sarah Barrett came in 264th.
The Minutewomen will next be in action when they take part in the NEC on Oct. 8.
Christopher Corso can be reached at [email protected].
