MASCAC @ Westfield State 10/21/06

Men:  Team finished 4th of 8

Women:  Team finished 5th of 8
 

The Worcester State Cross Country men’s and women’s teams competed at the MASCAC Conference Championships on 10/21/06 and came away with several strong individual performances. Though both squads ran respectfully, the Lancers were hoping for a little more in the team standings. However, with both teams experiencing several physical concerns recently, the outcome certainly showed a fine effort.  For the men, local standout, sophomore Rob Lind (Worcester-Doherty HS) led the Lancer charge. Lind, who transferred to WSC this year from Anna Maria, finished fifth overall in his first MASCAC Championship to earn All MASCAC honors. Not far behind was Worcester State’s other local standout, freshman Adam Malek(Worcester-Burncoat HS), who finished fourteenth overall. Both Lind and Malek were among those experiencing difficulties this week. For Malek, however, his run was good enough to land him “Male Rookie of the Year” honors as the top freshman or newcomer to the conference. Sophomore Andrew Rossi (Shrewsbury, MA) celebrated his birthday with a strong race despite suffering some earlier in the week. Rossi’s effort was just seven seconds off his fastest time this season to finish 30th overall.  Consistent performer, sophomore Chris Mancuso was able to finish close behind Rossi to finish 33^rd overall with his best time of the season. Stepping up in the fifth slot for WSC was sophomore Derrick Willand who knocked over two minutes off his best performance this fall to win the team’s Athlete of the Week Award.  Willand was 61^st overall. Freshmen Joe Bourdelais and Norman Everett, both contributed to round out the top seven.  The fourth place team finish matches the best effort by the men in this competition.  The youth of this team, all being just freshmen and sophomores,  provides great hopes already for next season where the goal will be to be among the top three (for the first time)in the conference.  

For the women, another local standout, Lindsay Shields( Millbury, MA) led the Lady Lancers with an eighth place finish for All MASCAC honors, now the third year in a row for her to achieve this accolade. Despite limited training at times during the season, Lindsay continues to excel.  Senior captain Jenelle Cunningham ran her last MASCAC Conference race finishing eighteenth overall with her second fastest time of the season. Junior Sally Geary, who has also needed some “down time” during the season, ran just her second race of the season to finish 35^th overall. Freshman Kara Antrim, another victim of ailments recently, recovered to some degree for this championship to finish 38^th overall to contribute to the team effort.  Rounding out the top five, was sport newcomer, sophomore Jilian Parzych, who continues to impress each week. Finishing 41^st overall, Parzych dropped her time again this season to run over a minute faster than previously. Also contributing was freshman Megan Tuite who was just behind Parzych in 42^nd place. This team which should lose just Cunningham next season continues to show signs of real progress week to week. With two meets left in the season, both the women and the men should still have their best race ahead of them.