Alex Walecka Finishes as Top Men's Runner at Gordon Invitational

WENHAM, Mass.- On a day where the weather didn't exactly provide ideal conditions to race, the cross country teams competed at the Gordon Cross Country Invitational in Wenham, Mass.  Both teams continued to see improvement in their runners as Alex Walecka (North Dartmouth, Mass.) was the top runner for the men.

In the rain and wind, Alex Walecka was able to put forth a great effort as the sophomore was able to finish just ten seconds off of his personal best.  With a time of 29:14, Walecka has now put forth back to back efforts of times that were both over 50 seconds under his previous best coming into the 2012 season.  The improvement to his technique as well as his conditioning has shown through in the results as Walecka continues to be the top runner for the 2012 men's team.

On the women's side, Kim Shepherd (Essex, Conn.) keeps lowering her personal best as she was able to cut 23 seconds off in this race.  Coming into the Gordon Invitational, Shepherd's personal best was 20:05 which she ran at the Corsair Invitational in Dartmouth, Mass.  The senior was able to keep pace with the top pack in the race and finished in a blazing time of 19:42, good enough to capture 26th place out of 316 runners.  

Not far behind Shepherd was Erin Haynes who continues to impress with her running.  After logging a time of 20:54 in her first collegiate race two weeks ago, the freshman was able to take an amazing 32 seconds off her time as she crossed the line in 20:22 which earned her 57th.  Jillian Mendes (Waterbury Center, Vt.) was hot on her heels as the junior captured 63rd with a time of 20:34.  Jocelyn Kane (East Longmeadow, Mass.) and Holly Davis (Guilford, Conn.) rounded out the top five for Endicott as the two finished in times of 20:59 and 21:06 respectively.

The Gulls have a quick turnaround as they race in the James Early Invitational at Westfield State on Saturday.  The race is currently slated to start at 12:00 p.m.