Maine’s Michael Lansing (Lovell, Maine/Fryburg Academy) and Vermont’s Diana Purtz (Powell, Ohio/Kilbourne-Worthington) have been named the America East Men’s and Women’s Cross Country performers of the week, respectively. The awards were announced Tuesday (September 21).
Lansing, a senior at Maine, led the field with a time of 22:55 on the 4.75 mile course to take first place overall, helping Maine earn its first win of the season at the UMass Invitational.
Purtz, a freshman at Vermont, was the top Catamount runner at the UMass Invitational, leading UVM to a second-place finish in the overall competition, just two points behind winner UMass. She finished the course in a time of 18:18.
Cross Country Wrap-Up:
Albany’s Men and Women Sweep Ram Invitational
The Albany men’s and women’s cross country teams finished first at the Fordham Fiasco on Saturday (Results(M) | Results(W)).
On the women’s side, Sophomore Alyssa Lotmore (Albany, N.Y./Bishop Maginn) led the way for UA, taking first place overall in a time of 19:14. Albany finished as a team with 30 total points, edging the host team Fordham by four. Other Great Danes finishing in the top 10 were Nicole Susser (Albany, N.Y./Colonie Central) (fourth, 19:52), Jessica Oehlke (Ghent, N.Y./Chatham) (fifth, 20:13), and Theresa Juva (Flushing, N.Y./The Mary Louis Academy) (ninth, 20:39).
Pacing the men’s team was a second-place finish by Freshman Ryan Gaedje (Bexford, N.Y./Shenedehowa) with a time of 26:23, while Robbie Freeman (New Hyde Park, N.Y./Great Neck South) finished third in a time of 26:32. UA coasted to a first place finish, ending the meet with a total of 29 points, 26 points better than the runner-up Southern Connecticut. Albany had five of the top 10 finishers with Ricardo Estremera (San Juan, Puerto Rico/University), Andy Allstadt (Endicott, N.Y./Union-Endicott) and Chris Pierson (Binghamton, N.Y./Chenango Valley) finishing sixth, eighth and 10th respectively.
?Around the Conference in Women’s Cross Country:
Senior Lindsey-BohrerYardley (Oneida, N.Y./ Vernon-Verona-Sherrill) and Juniors Erica Angel (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./ Speckenkill) and Stacy Kramer (Loudonville, N.Y./ Colonie Central) tied for first, helping the Bearcats win the three-team tournament with 37 points. The winning trio crossed the finish line with a time of 19:31 for the 5,000 meter course (Results).
Vermont had three of the top five finishers with Diana Purtz (Powell, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) placing second with a time of 18:18, Heather Mitchell (Queensbury, N.Y./Lake George) third with a time of 18:24 and Katy Jackson (Saco, Maine/Thornton Academy) fifth in 18:33. All contributed to the Catamounts second place finish at the UMass Invitational on Saturday (Results). UVM finished two points behind the winner Massachusetts with 31. Maine finished third with 72 points. Rounding out the top 10 for the America East were eighth ninth and 10th place finishes by Vermont’s Alexandra Hill (Rome, N.Y./Rome Free Academy) and Maine’s Kristen Vidlak (Thunder Bay, Ontario/Hammarskjold) and Shelby Howe (Colombia, MAINE/Narraguagus) with times of 18:43, 18:45, and 18:53 respectively.
Elsewhere in America East women’s cross country, UMBC finished seventh out of nine teams at the Navy Invitational (complete results). Junior Stephanie Thomas (Springfield, Pa./Springfield) had a strong performance, placing ninth with a time of 23:30 (Results).
?Men’s Cross Country Action:
Maine placed three runners in the top five to win the UMass Cross Country Invitational on Saturday (Results). The Black bears finished with 29 points, followed by UMass (32) and Vermont (69). Mike Lansing (Lovell, MAINE/Fryburg Academy) led the field with a time of 22:55 on the 4.75 mile course to take first place overall. Jeff Caron (Auburn, MAINE/Edward Little) finished fourth in a time of 23:15, followed by Kirby Davis (Falmouth, MAINE/Falmouth) at 23:15 in fifth place. Junior Brad Allen (Morrisville, Vt./Peoples Academy) was UVM's top runner for the second straight race. Allen finished sixth in a time of 23:22. Maine’s Edward Caron also finished in the top 10, placing seventh with a time of 23:27.
The UMBC Retriever men finished in fourth place with a team score of 110 with a team mark of 149 points. Leading the way for the men was Izudin Mehmedovic (Columbia, MD/Oakland Mills) with an 8K time of 25:47.34 (Results).
Sophomore Jeff Herbert (Somerville, N.J./ Somerville) placed ninth with a time of 27:12, highlighting the Binghamton cross country teams’ home meet against Syracuse and Colgate on Saturday morning. The Bearcats finished third with 67 points (Results).