Duka, Lodge earn All-NEC honors Saturday at NEC Championships

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Juniors Milan Duka (Belgrade, Serbia) and Melissa Lodge (Hopkinton, Mass.) each earned All-Northeast Conference honors as they paced the Bryant University cross country team on Saturday afternoon at the NEC Cross Country Championships in Loretto, Pa.

The Bulldog women finished fourth, while the men ran to a sixth-place finish. Saint Francis U. won the women's team title and Central Connecticut won its eighth-straight men's title.

Duka, now a three-time All-NEC runner, paced the Bulldogs with a seventh-place finish, the best of his career. He finished with a time of 27:46.2. Matt McGovern (Long Beach, N.Y.) finished 24th (29:56.6), Richard Landry (Holyoke, Mass.) finished 33rd (30:25.9), Ryan Poholek (North Attleboro, Mass.) finished 48th (32:12.2), Ryan Gannon (Litchfield, Conn.) finished 50th (32:28.0), Harrison McKinlay (Sutton, Mass.) finished 54th (32:58.9) and Brian Salit (Seekonk, Mass.) finished 57th (33:27.6).

Lodge earned All-NEC honors for the first time in her career with an 11th-place finish. She posted a time of 20:12.7. Along with Lodge, Bryant had four runners finish in the top 20. Emily McNeil (Shelton, Conn.) finished 17th (20:33.7), Elizabeth Willmonton (Rowley, Mass.) finished 19th (20:36.2), Jacklyn Sullivan (Plymouth, Mass.) finished 20th (20:39.1), Olivia Weiss (Newton, N.J.) finished 33rd (21:31.0), Sarah Lapham (Greenwich, N.Y.) finished 40th (21:57.1) and Breann Campise (Tolland, Conn.) finished 48th (22:52.4).