Cross Country Teams sets PRs leading into conference championship
Westfield, MA - Vermont Tech traveled to Stanley Park in Westfield, MA on Saturday to compete at the James Earley Invitational along with over 30 colleges from throughout New England.
The women's team ran well, although unfortunately Sierra Graves was unable to finish because of a knee issue. Masha Goodspeed ran her season's best 5K time leading the Lady Knights with a 24:50. Running 2nd for the Knights was up and coming cross country runner Olivia Machado who crushed her 5K PR by almost 3 minutes finishing the 5K in 25:56. Olivia was followed by Jenna Jerome who ran a 25:57. Coach Dunkle was pleased with the results noting that the team is coming together as a group with hard training and faster race times. " Masha ran this race in last year in 27:08 which she beat Saturday by nearly 3 minutes. It was a fun day for the Women's team and we are looking forward to Emma recovering from her surgery and running with us at the Conference Championships in 2 weeks."
The Men's Team ran the White race which is the fastest race competing against 30 + colleges from throughout New England. "This race was intended to be a large race experience for our athletes as well as a chance to run a fast, flat course which is hard to find in Vermont" said Coach Dunkle. The team responded pretty much as expected with all the men running a season's best time, some by as much as 5 minutes. It was a great experience and confidence builder going into the conference meet. Dave Mattern ran his best 8K race leading the team at 30:05. In order of finish after Dave for Vermont Tech were Tyler Dunham (31:06 ) Mathew Kelly ( 32:19 ) Michael Dunkle ( 33:58 ) and Kevin Kressock ( 34:41 ) All times were Personal Best runs for the season. Coach Dunkle said after the race "Looking at the conference results we are pretty much in a dead heat to compete for the YSCC championship against Paul Smith's College". The teams will train this week on a full training block and will be busy preparing for the Conference Championship at Hampshire College on the 20th.
