Bulldogs compete at NEC's Saturday
SMITHFIELD, R.I. – With each practice and meet serving as preparation, the Bryant University men's and women's cross country teams will put that preparation to the test this Saturday, Oct. 29, at the Northeast Conference Championships hosted by Monmouth University in West Long Branch, N.J.
Slated to finish sixth in the men's preseason rankings, and eighth in the women's rankings, the Bulldogs will look to match those projections and best them this weekend in the Garden State. The women will be led by the reigning NEC Women's Athlete of the Week, Eimear Black (Glengormley, Ireland). The first Bulldog to cross the finish line in each of the five races she competed in this year, Black is coming off a third-place finish at the CCSU Mini-Meet 3K race last Friday. She has now finished in the top five in each of her last three races, including a third-place finish at the Ted Owen Invitational in September. Flanking Black this weekend will be classmate Lauren Ganim (Trumbull, Conn.). Bryant's top finisher at the New England Championships, Ganim has set a personal best in each of her last three 5K races.
Bryant's men's squad will welcome the return of senior Ryan Busby (Derry, N.H.) this weekend after he missed last Friday's tune-up at Central Connecticut. A seasoned veteran, Busby leads a strong core of Bulldog runners into the conference meet. He'll be joined at the front of the pack by junior David Hurley (Ashaway, R.I.) and sophomores Christopher Chapruet (Danvers, Mass.) and Jeffrey Dorosh (Naugatuck, Conn.). Hurley has led the Bulldogs across the line four times this year, including a 24th place finish at the Ted Owen Invitational. Dorosh paced the Black and Gold at the New England Championships, shattering his previous best time, finishing the 8K course in 27:09.
Last year at the NEC Championships, the men finished sixth and the women placed eighth. Hurley paced the men with a time of 26:48.1, finishing 28th out of 104 runners. Bryant received its top performance on the women's side from Martha Reynolds (London, England). The freshman finished 17th with a time of 18:32.6. Junior Megan Robertson (Sewell, N.J.) was the second Bulldog to cross the line, finishing 48th.
The Bulldogs have already run the championship course once this season, competing in the Monmouth Invitational on Sept. 17. Black ran one of the best races of her young career, earning her first top-10 finish, placing seventh in a field of 157 runners. The men were led by a 24th-place finish from Hurley, with Busby finishing five spots back.
Following Saturday's race, those Bulldogs that qualify will compete in the USATF New England Championships on Sunday, Nov. 6, at Franklin Park in Boston, Mass.