Cross Country Opens at Castleton Invitational

CASTLETON, Vt. – The Southern New Hampshire University men and women’s cross country teams opened the 2007 season at the Castleton State College Invitational on Sunday.  Both the men’s and women’s squads took down third place honors.

In the men’s race, junior Alex Brown (Hudson, NH) took down first place with a time of 29 minutes, 21.19 seconds over the 8K course, besting second place Dan Bulson of SUNY-Cobleskill by just over 12 seconds.  The Penmen placed three runners in the top-10, as junior Nick Watts (Pittsfield, NH) finished fourth with a time of 29:59.84.  Spencer Rennick (Peabody, MA) was ninth overall with a time of 31:18.50.

Also competing in the men’s race were freshman Steve Brown (Hudson, NH), who placed 15th with a 32:30.96 effort.  Sam Tarrant (Cleverdale, NY) (22nd), Michael Smith (Lynnfield, MA) (23rd) and Matt Caredeo (Salem, NH) (32nd) rounded out the finishers for SNHU.

The women also placed three runners in the top-10, led by a fourth place finish by junior Svea Dellea-Messner (Windham, NH), who finished the 5K course in 22:40.76.  Freshman Melissa Hurley (Ashaway, RI) placed seventh at 23:02.09, while Margaret Shields (Smithfield, RI) finished 10th overall with a 23:21.04 effort.

Amanda Soares (Woburn, MA) placed 19th overall while Allison Trafton (Salem, NH) (22nd) and Emily Smith (Needham, MA) (36th) also competed for the women.

The Southern New Hampshire cross country teams return to action Saturday when they travel to Saint Anselm College to compete in the Shacklette Invitational.