Men's Cross Country Finishes 8th at RWU Invitational

BRISTOL, R.I.-  Led by freshman runner Noah Mondello (Gloucester, Mass.), the Endicott men's cross country team finished in eighth place at the Roger Williams Invitational on Saturday.  The freshman finished in 25th place overall.  Rounding out the top three for Endicott were Alex Walecka (North Dartmouth, Mass.) and Mitchell Renfrew (Barkhamsted, Conn.).

In just the first meet of his college career, Mondello completed the 5k course in 17:26.76, for an average mile pace of 5:37.  Those splits were just 1:08 off the total time and :22 off the average mile.  Walecka, last year's most consistent runner for the Gulls, finished the course in 18:38.94 and in 65th place.  Renfrew crossed the finish line in 77th place after recording a time of 19:51.12.  Juniors James Dooley and Ian Kaeding 22:33.21 and 24:01.98 respectively to round out the top five for Endicott.

For the women, the Gulls put forth a strong effort and placed 5th out of 11 squads.   Junior Erin Haynes (Oakham, Mass.) picked up where she left off in the 2012 season and finished 6th overall in a time of 20:16.85 over the 5k course.  Haynes finished just 16 seconds out of 3rd place.  Lauren Boyle was close on her heels as she clocked in with a time of 21:21.77 as she finished in 18th place.  Junior Jocelyn Kane (East Longmeadow, Mass.) remained a consistent presence towards the top of the leaderboard as she clocked in at 21:37.90, good enough for 26th out of the 131 female runners.  

Jillian Mendes (Waterbury Center, Vt.), finished in 62nd place for Endicott as she put forth a time of 22:50.27.  Holly Rigoli (Waltham, Mass.) rounded out the top five Endicott runners as she closed with a time of 23:44.18, good enough for 78th.  Also registering scores for the Gulls were junior Shebly Woodworth (Hutchinson, Minn.) and sophomore Grace Brigham (Montpelier, Vt.) as they finished in 83rd and 88th respectively with times of 24:10.84 and 24:24.26.  

The teams return to competition on Saturday as they travel to Biddeford, Maine to compete in the UNE Invitational.  Start times will be 10:45 a.m. for the women and 11:30 a.m. for the men.