The men’s and women’s cross country teams dominated at the Keene State College Invitational on Saturday afternoon. The men finished first overall out of 12 teams, while the women recorded a second place finish in a field of 14 teams.  

The men won at the invitational for the second time in three years—finishing second to the hosts last year—placing five runners in the top-12 overall. The team finished with an outstanding 30 points, while runner-up Keene State finished with 35. 

No other team came close as third place went to Southern Vermont College with 94 points, and fourth place was claimed by Fitchburg State University with 113 points.  

“[It was a] great weekend overall,” said head coach Sinead Evans. “[Both teams are] running much better this weekend, and we hope to keep that progression moving forward as the season moves forward,” she continued.

The men were once again led by Jarret Harrigan ’15, who placed first overall out of 126 competitors. Harrigan finished the five-mile race with a time of 26 minutes, 33 seconds, which put him just one second ahead of fellow teammate Ryan Stender ’18. 

Stender showed great improvement after securing 19th place at the last meet. 

Matt Doran ’17 also ran an outstanding race and finished eighth with a 27:18 finish, and Liam Garvey ’18 finished in 11th with a time of 27:27.  

Grady Ward ’16 finished with a 27:43 time for 14th place. Brian Sheppard ’18 took 20th with 28:32, while Brad Payne’ 18 grabbed 25th with 29:01.

“No doubt everyone’s been running well,” Evans said. “We had a couple freshmen who scored, and they’ve responded well to collegiate races. All the returners have made really nice jumps this year; they’ve all had great summer training, and from preseason on, training has gone well,” she continued.

The women ended the competition with 53 points, which left them 19 back of champions Keene State. They were far ahead of the rest of the completion, however, as the third place Springfield College finished with 84 points and fourth place finishers Amherst College finished with 118 points. 

The Judges finished with five runners in the top 20 overall out of the 156 who entered the race.

Similarly to the men, the women also fielded the two best runners of the competition, as Maddie Dolins ’17 and Kelsey Whitaker ’16 brought home the top two positions. 

Dolins finished the five-kilometer race with a time of 18:46, while Whitaker recorded an 18:54 finish. Lydia McCaleb ’17 also finished a strong race in 14th place with a time of 19:44.

Ashley Piccirillo-Horan ’16 also secured 19th place in the race in which she ran the 5-kilomter race in 20:07. 

“[Dolins] was second to Amelia [Ludkvist ’14] last year at this meet, but she’s made a nice jump this year, improved by eight seconds.

“[Dolins] has a bit more endurance, and [Whitaker] has a bit more speed, more of a miler. They’re both running really well, and their training has progressed. [Whitaker] had an okay race, a bit off, but it’s nice to see her back,” she continued.

 “The second half of the team is really strong; [McCaleb] ran [a] strong race. “They all ran really well, and it was a great day overall for both teams,” she continued.

Rounding out the team, Kyra Shreeve ’18 grabbed 21st with a time of 20:12, while Maggie Hensel ’16 got 31st in 20:47, and Molly Paris finished in 38th with a time of 21:00. 

Both teams have built on their previous momentum as the women finished fifth out of 38 teams at the UMass Dartmouth Invitational two weeks ago. At the same invitational, the men’s squad finished third out of 34 competitors. 

“[The season is] progressing like I hoped it would,” Evans said.

“[The men’s team is] knocking on the door right now [of the top-10 in New England].”

“I’m really happy [with the season]. We have a lot of depth, which is great; we’re really happy where things are going, and we’re exciting to see how the Connecticut College [Invitational] goes and the rest of the season goes.”

The squads will return to action at the Connecticut College Invitational on Oct. 18. 

—Avi Gold contributed reporting.