Worcester State College Men’s Cross Country Highlights

WNEC Invitational at Western New England College

10/13/07

The Worcester State Men’s Cross Country overcame a great deal of adversity at the WNEC Invitational to finish a strong second to cross town rival WPI on a beautiful runner’s day at the Western New England College campus. Due to an early mixup on the course between the one and two mile marks, five of Worcester State’s runners in the front pack, along with other lead runners, were diverted off the course, causing them to run an additional distance before finding their way back on the correct course.  For some, the damage was minimal while others lost valuable ground and overall position in the race. For Lancer standout Forest Wilber, it was devastating, as he was directed by meet personnel off course a second time near the end of the race while in the winding trails, causing him to move from a sizeable lead over the entire field to 38^th in the final standings and only fifth for the team.   Sophomore Adam Malek became the top Lancer finisher in fourth place overall with a time of 27:30, almost a minute faster than last year.  Junior Rob Lind also maintained a position among the top ten finishing 6^th overall. In a pleasant development, senior Justin Snair, stepped up and ran his first solid race of the season.  He covered the five mile distance in 29:35 becoming the third Worcester State finisher in 16^th overall.   Junior Chris Mancuso came in 22^nd, who has been having a solid year, still ran about thirty seconds faster than last year.  Stephen Gemme was just behind Wilber in 39^th place at the finish.  Rounding out the top seven was junior Andrew Rossi in 50^th place overall.  Freshmen Robert Stahelski and Adam Boudreau continue to improve as do sophomores Norman Everett, Joe Bourdelais, and Joey Bianchi.  For Everett, particularly, each week he has been able to better his times from last year by multiple minutes not just seconds. The team will prepare this week for the MASCAC Conference Championships and hopes to be in the hunt for the title.