By Staff Writer James Mellen.
The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Men’s and Women’s cross country teams closed out their season by competing in the 2018 NCAA Division III New England Regional Championships held at Bowdoin’s Pickards Field Course in Brunswick, Maine on Saturday, November 10th. The weather was fairly warm for a New England November, with highs of 36. Anywhere else in the country, this is just referred to as cold.
The men’s team placed 16th out of 58 schools, while the lady Corsairs placed 36th overall.
Senior Jason Karakaedos (Peabody, Mass.) lead the men’s team by placing 42nd in a field of 416 competitors with a time of 26:08.5 in the 8 kilometer race. The next two Corsairs were freshmen Steve Stromski (Melrose, Mass.) and Carlos Rivera (Lowell, Mass.). They placed 87th and 91st respectively with times of 26:50.0 and 26:52.0. Junior George Papoulis (Haverhill, Mass.) and freshman Jose LeClerc-Rodriguez (Chelsea, Mass.) rounded out the pack by placing 137th and 163rd with respective times of 27:38.4 and 28:12.7.
Amherst placed first in the race with a score of 65. Williams placed in second with a score of 86 and third place Middlebury ended with a score of 142. These three teams qualified to move on to next week’s national cross country meet.
The women’s team also put up a fantastic final performance of the season. Junior Jess O’Reilly (Millis, Mass.) lead the group of women’s athletes with a 50th place finish in a field of 406 runners, as she posted a time of 23:09.8 over the 6 kilometer race. Next in line were sophomore Taylor Walsh (Groveland, Mass.) and junior Victoria Spitaels (West Newton, Mass.) with 114th and 256th place finishes on respective times of 24:06.8 and 26:19.2. Senior Kirstie Harnden (Fitchburg, Mass.) and freshman Jackie Broderick (Wilmington, Mass.) finished out the team’s totals by posting times of 27:31.7 and 28:24.0 that were good for 313th and 336th place.
The final standings saw MIT secure first place with a score of 87 points, beating out Middlebury who scored 108. Finally, Williams scored 115 to place third overall. Each of these teams will move onto the national cross country meet next weekend.