On Saturday, Oct. 27, both of the University of Maine cross country teams travelled to Nashua, New Hampshire to compete in the America East Cross-Country Conference Championship.
Competing for the women’s team for the Black Bears was fourth-year Haley Lawrence, second-year Emma Jourdain, fourth-year Faith Gardner, third-year Haley Michienzi, third-year Eliza Bennet, fourth-year Hope Gardner, second-year Sara Drummond and second-year Cassandra Lucci.
The University of Maine women’s cross-country team finished with an overall time of 1:37:39.62, bringing the women’s team in at ninth place. The Black Bears missed the eighth place position by just twelve points to the University of Hartford, with a score of 249 against Hartford’s score of 237.
Finishing first for the Black Bears on Saturday was Lawrence, who crossed the finish line with a time of 18:21, finishing 13th overall. The second place runner for UMaine was Jourdain, who finished with a time of 18:56 in 51st place overall. Coming in third for UMaine was Faith Gardner, who placed 73rd overall with a time of 19:51. Finishing close together in the fourth and fifth place positions were Haley Michienzi, with a time of 20:14, and Bennett, with a time of 20:15. Michienzi and Bennet finished 79th and 80th overall. Hope Gardner was the sixth runner in for the Black Bears, finishing with a time of 20:29 and coming in 82nd overall. Gardner was followed closely by Hunt, who finished with a time of 20:57 and brought in 85th place overall. Concluding the race for UMaine were Drummond and Lucci, who finished with times of 21:29 and 21:35, respectively.
The men’s cross-country course was slightly longer than the women’s, measuring 8 kilometers, or just under 5 miles. Competing on Saturday for the men’s team was fourth-year Aaron Willingham, fourth-year Daniel Lesko, second-year Ethan Orach, first-year James Olivier, fourth-year Jacob Terry, third-year Colin Tardiff, Andrew Levesque, first-year Travis Nickerson and third-year Cooper Nelson.
The men’s team finished with a combined time of 2:10:59, finishing in seventh place among the nine teams that competed. The Black Bears missed placing sixth by 11 points but fended off the eighth place team by 51 points.
Finishing in first place for the Black Bears was Willingham who completed the course in 24:54, which was enough to secure him a place in the top ten, finishing sixth overall. Finishing second for UMaine was Lesko, who finished with a time of 26:14 and placed 46th overall. Coming in third and fourth were Orach and James Olivier. Orach placed 52nd overall, with a time of 26:29, followed by Olivier in 53rd place with a time of 26:33. Finishing fifth for the Black Bears was Terry, who completed the course with a time of 26:47, finishing 63rd overall. The sixth Black Bear across the line was Tardiff, who finished with a time of 26:51 in 67th place. Finishing close together in seventh and eighth place for the Black Bears were Levesque and Nickerson. Levesque finished 75th overall, with a time of 28:12, and was followed 12 seconds later by 76th finisher Nickerson. The final runner for the Black Bears was Nelson, who came in 80th overall with a time of 28:52.
The Black Bears will run again on Nov. 9 in Amherst, New York at the NCAA Northeast Regionals.
