Walecka Leads Gulls at WNE Invitational

SPRINGFIELD, Mass.-  Sophomore Alex Walecka (North Dartmouth, Mass.) once again put up a personal best as he finished 52nd at the WNE Invitational in a time of 28:40.72.  Walecka was able to take 34 seconds off of his previous personal best of 29:14.

Walecka was able to finish just three minutes behind the top finisher.  Mitchell Renfrew (Barkhamsted, Conn.) was extremely impressive as well as he was able to beat his personal best by over two minutes.  Renfrew's previous best was 33:26 and he was able to finish in 31:20.06 on Saturday.

The women were able to register a team score of 163 which placed them fifth out of 23 teams.  Kim Shepherd (Essex, Conn.) was the highest finisher for the Gulls as the senior finished in 26th place with a time of 20:26.28, just one minute and 24 seconds off the winning time.  First year runner Erin Haynes was close on Shepherd's heels as she finished in 29th place with a time of 20:31.78.  

Endicott had three more runner finish in under 21 minutes as Jillian Mendes (Waterbury Center, Vt.), Holly Davis (Guilford, Conn.) and Jocelyn Kane (East Longmeadow, Mass.) finished in 37th, 41st and 42nd place.  Mendes registered a time of 20:51.72 as Davis finished in 20:57.38 and Kane finished in 20:58.75.  Laura Wunsch (Albany, N.Y.) also ran well as the freshman recorded a time of 21:18.78  

Endicott will now train for the next two weeks as the team gets ready for the CCC Championships in Bristol, R.I. on October 27th.  The race is slated to start at noon for the women and 1 p.m. for the men.