10/14/2006
Cross Country Teams Take Second at Western New England College Invitational

SPRINGFIELD, MASS. 10/14/06 – The Clark University women’s and men’s cross country teams placed second in the Western New England College Invitational at Suprenant Field on Saturday afternoon. Both Cougar teams finished second behind cross-town rival Worcester Polytechnic Institute. WPI women placed first with 34 points, while Clark recorded 42 points in the nine-team field. Becky Mayer (Arvada, Colo.) paced the Clark women in the 5K. She placed third with a time of 20:38. Teammate Ellen Durand (Billerica, Mass.) wasn’t far behind, finishing fourth (21:02). Kaitlyn Sephton (Shutesbury, Mass.) took sixth (21:42), Vera Simon-Nobes (Charlotte, Vt.) was 14th (22:40), and Kerri Powers (Juneau, Ak.) placed 18th (23:01) to round out Clark’s top finishers. Liz Gomez (Hingham, Mass.) ran a personal-best time of 23:02 with her 19th place showing. WPI’s Megan Murphy won the race in a time of 20:10. Placing seventh overall, Thomas McCarthy (Scarborough, Me.) covered the 8K course in a time of 28:51 to lead the Cougar men. Caleb Evanter (Marblehead, Mass.) and Dan Roberts (Portland, Me.) finished 10th (29:16) and 12th (29:43), respectively. Other top finishers for the Cougars were, John Frederickson (Chestnut Ridge, N.Y.) (18th/30:23) and Stephen Karger (Stamford, Conn.) (23rd/31:12). Devon Saliga (Marlborough, Mass.) finished 31st, but ran a personal best 32:01. In the six-team men’s field, the WPI collected 35 points to take first. The Cougar men finished with 65 points. Alex White, from WPI, was the men’s individual champion (27:34). Clark’s cross-country teams will compete in the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference Championships at Mount Holyoke next Saturday.