Men's Cross Country competes at home opener
Randolph Center, VT - The Vermont Technical College Cross Country team hosted its 8th Annual VTC Invitational and Maple Syrup Challenge on Saturday Sept 7th on their home course.
The women's race started at 11am with Middlebury College, Norwich University, Albany College of Pharmacy and Vermont Tech Women toeing the line in the season kickoff meet. The race course is a tour of the campus the includes a loop around the apple orchard and a loop in the nearby Lake Champaign campground. Middelbury College Women set the pace and took the first 4 spots in the finish to win their 4th consecutive appearance. Vermont Tech was led by Freshman Cassidy Lewis of Strafford VT, who finished 15th in the 2nd fastest VTC Freshman finish of 21:55. Following Cassidy was Freshman Maria Potvin, of Stamford VT, who finished in 18th place at 22:30. Also scoring for Vermont Tech was Emma Sanders ( 28th ) of St. Albans VT, Angela Lazzaro ( 32nd ) of Milton VT and Olivia Machado ( 36th ) of Manchester NH. Coach Dunkle was quoted as saying that he was really pleased with the first meet. " We race against tougher schools and that motivates us to train harder. " Said Dunkle, " we have a solid group of women who work hard and get along well. Our work will be getting the team to tighten up on the time spread so that we can compete well at the Conference meet next Month." THe Vermont Tech Women edged out Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences to take 3rd overall in the meet, which earned the team a gallon of malple syrup
The Vermont Tech Men also ran against Middlebury College, Norwich University and Albany College of Pharmacy Saturday. The Men were 4th in this meet having been edged out by 3 points by Albany College. " We had a learning race " said Dunkle of the Men's team. " Some of our Men went out a little bit quicker than they should have and felt it by the time they got to the hill" " Overall though I can't complain" said Dunkle. " The team is working hard, training hard and we have several newer additions to the team that will turn the corner and add a lot to the depth of the program. Matt Kelly ( of Fort Kent Maine) ran an excellent race. He paced himself well and just ran great" Matt Kelly ran point for the VTC team finishing the Hilly 8K course in 33:29. Matt was followed by Sophomore Tyler Dunham ( 35:00), Junior Kevin Kressock (38:37) , Freshman Matt Stretton, Sophomore Jon Puffer and Freshman Ben Fontaine.
Both the Men and Women will be competing next week on September 14th in a Pre-Conference meet hosted by NHTI in Concord NH.
