The men's and women's cross country teams completed an impressive weekend this past Saturday when both teams excelled at the Connecticut College Invitational at Harkness Memorial State Park in Waterford, Conn.

Led by Amelia Lundkvist '14, the women finished third out of 21 competing teams with an average time of 22 minutes, 33 seconds and 108 points, only 11 points behind second place Ohio Wesleyan University and an average time of 10 seconds behind first-place Tufts University, who entered the competition ranked No. 11 nationally.

"We went out faster in the first race [than in previous races] and our goal was to do really well against Tufts," said co-captain Victoria Sanford '14. "We wanted to stick our heads out and see what we could do against them."

Ludkvist averaged five minutes, 47 seconds per mile for the six-kilometer race, crossing the finish line at 21:34 in second place out of the 257-runner field. She was followed by Maddie Dolins '17 whose 22:03 time resulted in a fifth-place finish in her first six-kilometer race of the year.

Sanford remarked that Dolins has not only impressed her during competition, but has been equally as impressive between races as well.

"Maddie had really great training in high school, which is good because it is usually a tough adjustment," Sanford said. "She's stepped up and we really needed that. It's really impressive that she's been able to do that as a first-year runner."

The Judges also got strong performances from Kelsey Whitaker '16 and Sanford, who both finished in the top 10 at 22:07 and 22:20, respectively. Whitaker's sixth place finish was four seconds behind Dolins and six behind fourth place.

Rounding out the team's scoring were Maggie Hensel '16, who finished at 24:40 in 96th place overall. Furthermore, the Judges received solid performances from Julia Schiantarelli '17, who crossed the line with a time of 25:30 and a 147th place overall finish, and Heather Murphy '17, who ended at 25:47 to finish in 158th place overall.

The meet marked the third straight meet that Lundkvist ended as runner-up. In each of the three races, she has come within five seconds of the top spot. The Judges look to use her individual success as a springboard for team success moving forward.

"We're excited, normally we've not done well at [the University Athletic Association Championships] and Regionals because of numbers, but this year we're excited because of [a full squad]," Sanford said. I think we can do some damage and make people say, 'Oh wow, where did they come from?'"
While the men finished 10th as a team, the Judges still had strong individual performances throughout their lineup and finished 10th out of 21 competing teams. In the eight-kilometer race, the team finished with an average time of 27 minutes, a time slower than both 11th place University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and 12th place Gwynedd-Mercy College, but finished more than 10 points better than the two with 291 points.

For the third time this year, the team had a new top finisher when Quinton Hoey '17 finished in 32nd place out of 248 runners at 26:27, just five seconds off his personal best for the 8-kilometer course. Three seconds behind Hoey was Jarret Harrigan '15 who finished at 26:30, good for 35th place.
The strong team performance continued with Michael Rosenbach '15 and Grady Ward '16, who finished at 26:36 and 26:57, respectively, and 42nd and 67th overall, respectively. Ward's fourth place team finish was his best finish of the year. Rounding out the Judges were Liban Aden '16, whose 154th place finish saw him finish the course at 28:26, and Daniel Leon '17, who squeaked under the half hour mark at 29:05 and a 182nd place finish.

Looking forward, Sanford sees only positives from a weekend as successful as this one.

"We've worked hard and we look forward to [showing our capabilities]," she said.

Both teams return to action with University Athletic Association Championships on Nov. 2, hosted by Carnegie Mellon University.
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