The men’s cross country team dominated in their trip to the University of Massachusetts, earning first place as a team, while redshirt fifth-year Jesse Orach placed first in the UMass Minuteman Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 10. The men had four runners place in the top 10. On the women’s side, the team took a sixth place finish with third-year Kaitlin Saulter coming in 19th.
Orach came in first with a time of 18:59 for the 6k race. He came within six seconds of breaking the meet record, 18:53.40, which was set by a University of Vermont(UVM) runner in 2014 Fourth-year Levi Frye came in next for the Black Bears in fifth place overall with a time of 19:23. Third-year Jacob Johns and second-year Aaron Willingham came in next for Maine coming in seventh and eighth respectively. Johns had a time of 19:27 and Willingham came in four seconds after at 19:31.
Second-years Josh Horne and Simon Powhida and fourth-year Lucan Bourget also placed in the top 20. Horne came in 14th with a time of 19:40, while Bourget came in two spots behind him at 19:41. Powhida came in right after with a time of 19:42.
As a team, the men came in first with 35 points, closely followed by the University of Connecticut (UConn) with 41 points. UConn had five runners place in the top 20 with a third and fourth place finisher. The team also beat UVM, UMass Amherst, Sacred Heart and UMass Amherst.
Last year when they attended the same meet, Maine placed third overall, being beaten by UConn and Amherst. Orach came in fourth with a time of 19:45 with the winning time being 19:27.
Saulter led the women’s team coming in 19th with a time of 18:31. Second-year Haley Lawrence came in next for Maine in 41st place with a time of 19:01.
Other top finishers for the Black Bears were third-year Elanora Hubbell, first-year Elisabeth Redwood and second-year Faith Gardner. Hubbell came in 54th with a time of 19:24, while Redwood and Gardner came in back to back at 59th and 60th with times of 19:28 and 19:29 respectively.
The team as a whole came in sixth with 175 points, while Boston College won the meet with 30 points, placing first, third and fifth individually as well. Third-year Isabelle Kennedy took the meet with a winning time of 17:24. Teammates second-year Laura Leff and first-year Paige Duca came in third and fifth recording times of 17:53 and 18:03.
The men and women’s team will hit the road again to travel to Boston on Sept. 16 to race in the Coast-to-Coast Battle at Franklin Park. The meet is scheduled to start at 3 p.m.
