By Alex Solari, Staff Writer
The Cross Country team wrapped up the season with 13 Corsairs on Saturday.
The Corsairs participated in the 2016 NCAA Division III New England Regionals, which was held at Westfield State at Stanley Park.
The men’s team was twenty-fourth out of the 56 teams they faced, and collected 743 points.
The women’s team was the thirty-fourth out of 59, and collected 978 points.
As usual, the senior captains of both teams, Michael Vaz from Dartmouth, Mass. and Reme DiGiovanni from Southborough Mass., were the top finishers in their respective meets.
DiGiovanni had a career-best 6K time, finishing with a time of 23 minutes, 35 seconds, and she placed hundredth overall among 406 runners.
Vaz was the eighty-fourth finisher in the men’s race, with a time of 26 minutes, 14 seconds in the 8K among 384 runners.
Senior Sean Herihly from Walpole, Mass. was close behind Vaz in the men’s competition, finishing one-hundred and eighth overall with 26 minutes, 37 seconds.
First-year Robbie Hanlon from Walpole, Mass. was the third UMass Dartmouth finisher, with a time of 27 minutes, 35 seconds and was one-hundred and sixty-eighth overall.
Dominic Roy from Alford, Mass. was fourth in this race and finished with 28 minutes, 2 seconds, and was one-hundred and ninety-second overall.
The Corsairs bettered last year’s regional finish by two places and more than 50 points.
For the women’s competition, first-year Victoria Spitaels from West Newton, Mass. wrapped up her rookie year strong as the second Corsair finisher, with her season-best 6K time of 24 minutes, 11 seconds and finished one-hundred sixty-eighth overall.
Sophomore Kirsten Harnden from Fitchburg, Mass. placed two-hundred and ninth overall, and finished with a 6K time of 24 minutes and 51 seconds, with the third overall Corsair time.
First-year Jessica O’Reilly from Millis, Mass. was the fourth Corsair finisher, with a time of 25 minutes, 1 second and was two-hundred and twenty-first overall.
The women were in thirty-fourth place overall for the second year in a row, but their point total was 30 points lower this year than in 2015.
In team scoring, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology topped both the men’s and women’s rankings to take the Regional titles, getting 110 points in the men’s race and 68 in the women’s race.
Brittany Bowman, a junior at Tufts’ University took home the individual championship for the women, finishing with a 6K time of 21 minutes, 14 seconds, and fellow Tufts’ student Tim Nichols won the men’s race finished with 23 minutes, 54 seconds in the 8K.
The second finisher overall for the women was Megan McCandless, who is a first-year student who also attends Tufts.
She finished right behind Bowman with a 6K time of 21 minutes, 16 seconds.
The second finisher overall for the men was Matt Deyo, a senior Masssachusetts Institute of Technology student. He finished with a time of 24 minutes, 28 seconds.
Congratulations to everyone who participated in the NCAA Division III New England Regionals!