Worcester State College Cross Country Recap

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Worcester State College
Men's and Women's Cross Country
Meet Story

At the NCAA Regional Qualifier- Harkness Park, Waterford CT

11/10/07

The Worcester State Cross Country team finished one of the best seasons in the program’s history with a strong showing at the NCAA Regional Qualifier. The Lancers finished 20^th of 47 full teams in the New England regional competition breaking in among the top twenty division three teams in this region. Worcester State was the fourth state school finisher in the competition, thereby putting the Lancers among the best there as well. Leading the team, as he has all season, was junior Forest Wilber. Racing with the intent of qualifying for the national championships, Wilber ran near the front with the other elite runners in the race. With a grueling fast pace and aggressive positioning among the leaders over the first four miles, Wilber fell victim to the fierce competition finishing in 37^th overall while falling back over the final mile. Forest’s attempt to “go after it” ended in a respectable time of 25:37.9, but he paid dearly for his efforts, not advancing to the NCAAs as was hoped. Regardless, Wilber’s efforts inspired his teammates, as the first four runners all broke 27 minutes for the first time this season. This allowed this group to finish ahead of several who had beaten them individually earlier in the season. Sophomore Adam Malek finished 98^th running 26:33.9 for the 8K course. Junior Rob Lind was the third Lancer to finish (116^th), running 26:54.1 over the distance. Senior Justin Snair ended his collegiate cross country career with his best race this year, finishing just behind Lind in a time of 26:58 and placing 120^th overall. Chris Mancuso, who has been a team top five runner all season, did not start the race due to a last minute injury while warming up. Mancuso’s departure from the competition put additional pressure on those who needed to “step up” and fill the void. To that end, solid efforts were made by freshman Stephen Gemme (216^th-28:48.6), junior Andrew Rossi (229^th-29:09.5), and freshman Robert Stahelski (298th.-32:36.1) who became the seventh man when Mancuso could not start the race.