CROSS COUNTRY WRAPS 2018 CAMPAIGN WITH STRONG FINISH AT REGIONALS

BRUNSWICK, Maine - On Saturday, November 10, the Emmanuel College Cross Country program wrapped up one of the greatest seasons in program history as the Women's Team finished in the Top 25 in the NCAA D-III New England Regional race while the Men placed 35^th overall in the region.

THE RUNDOWN – WOMEN:

MIT captured the regional championship with 87 points while Coast Guard sophomore Kaitlyn Mooney was the individual champion with a time of 20:44.74 in the 6K course.

FOR THE SAINTS:

• Sophomore Pearl Vercruysse (Oak Bluffs, Mass.) paced EC with a 23:24 time and finished 67^th overall
• Freshman Hannah Fitzpatrick (Revere, Mass.) posted a 24:13 effort and placed 123^rd
• Senior Reilly Boyle (Wells, Maine) ran well with a 25:00 performance
• Junior Allie Gorrill (Whitefield, Maine) was just behind Boyle coming in at 25:04
• Freshman Anna Cutrone (Newburyport, Mass.) rounded out the EC top five with a time of 25:54

THE RUNDOWN – MEN:

Amherst topped the Men's field with 65 points while Plymouth State senior Sam Brunnette was the individual champion with a time of 24:55.97 in the 8K course.

FOR THE SAINTS:

• Junior Erik Brobst (Freeport, Maine) was the top EC finisher with a time of 27:20 in 120^th place
• Junior Patrick Carty (Sweden, Maine) was just two seconds behind Brobst with a 127^th place finish at 27:22
• Sophomore Matthew Cronin (Coventry, R.I.) ran well with a time of 29:56 followed by senior Brandon Fitzpatrick (Tewksbury, Mass.) who finished in 30:40.
• Sophomore Trevor Hajj (Gilmanton, N.H.) posted a 31:12 time to round out the top 5 for EC

SEASON RECAP:

First year Head Coach Reava Potter was instrumental in leading the Saints to one of the greatest campaign's in program history, leading the Women's Team to the program's Third GNAC Championship in six years as well as a Top-25 finish in the region. The Men's squad also exceeded expectations, finishing third in the GNAC Championship and in the Top-35 in the region.

The Women won three consecutive meets to close the regular season, winning the Runnin' Monks Invite on Saturday, Sept. 6, the Suffolk Invitational on Friday, Sept. 12 and then the GNAC Championship on Sunday, Sept. 28. In the same meets, the Men's squad posted top-four finishes with a second-place finish in Maine, a fourth place finish in Boston and a third place finish in GNAC's.

COACHES' CORNER:

"It was fun to watch the women's team finally click during the second half of our season," said Coach Potter. "They developed the mindset of wanting to win every race they ran in and the results speak for themselves. Not only did they believe they could win, that men's team fed off their mentality and finished the season strong."

"Overall, I'm really happy with the direction of the program. It's tough for any team to do well under a new coach and staff but this group worked really hard all year and earned everything they won. We were the underdogs to start and surprised a lot of people along the way and now I'm hopeful that these positive results will carry over into the Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field seasons."

UP NEXT!
The 2018 Indoor Track & Field season opens in two weeks when the Saints head to the Reggie Lewis Center for the UMass Boston Invitational on Saturday, December 1.