New Britain, CT ? The University of Hartford cross country teams competed in the Ted Owens Cross Country Invitational this morning in New Britain, CT. The women's team finished fifth overall out of eight teams, while the men's team finished eighth out of eight teams.
The women's team was led by senior captain Elizabeth Foster, who finished eighth overall. Foster finished the 5,000-meter course in a time of 18:33, setting a significant personal record for the 5K distance. She finished just one minute and 44 seconds behind race leader Andrea Walkonen of Boston University. Joining Foster in the top-20 finishers was junior captain Stephanie Lombardi who finished 20th overall with a time of 19:15. Finishing third for Hartford was sophomore Leanna Godfrey, who placed 37th overall with a personal-best time of 19:48 in the 5K.
Also competing in the Ted Owens Cross Country Invitational for the women was Ariana Bass who finished in 48th place (20:27), Kaycee Martinez who finished in 60th place (21:08), Biliana Mihaylova who finished in 71st place (22:11), Melanie Wilson who finished in 73rd place (22:44), and Cathleen Ficht who finished in 80th place (24:20).
The men's team was led by sophomore captain Jonas Hampton, who finished 19th overall. Jonas finished the 8,000-meter course in a time of 27:13, setting a personal record for the distance, and completing the race one minute and 34 seconds behind race leader Eric Ashe of Boston University. Freshman Andy Chalmers finished second for Hartford with a time of 28:16, placing 44th overall in his first 8K cross-country outing. Rounding out the top-five scorers for Hartford was sophomore Matt Le who finished 55th overall running a personal record time of 28:43, freshman Pat Murray who finished in 56th place (28:50) and junior Wes Melnick who finished in 57th place (28:52).
The remaining Hartford men's runners included Eric Flaman who finished in 72nd place (29:38), Justin Ferreira who finished in 80th place (30:10), Mike Russo who finished in 86th place (30:49), Alex Welford who finished in 90th place (31:37) and Fred Langford who finished in 94th place (33:37).
The men's and women's cross country teams will next compete at the Fairfield University Invitational on Saturday, September 27th at 11:00 a.m.
