Posted: Sep 11, 2010

BRYANT CROSS COUNTRY COMPETES AT BLUE DEVIL INVITATIONAL

September 11, 2010

BRYANT CROSS COUNTRY COMPETES AT BLUE DEVIL INVITATIONAL
Men and Women Place Eighth Overall

NEW BRITAIN, CONN. - The Bryant University men's and women's cross country teams took part in the 2010 Central Connecticut Cross Country Invitational Saturday afternoon at Stanly Park in New Britain, Conn. The women, led by the strong running by Martha Reynolds, finished eighth overall.

Reynolds, a freshman from London, England, finished 16th overall in a time of 18 minutes, 38 seconds and thanks to strong running by sophomore Megan Robertson (Sewell, N.J.) and freshman Eimear Black (Glengormley, Ireland), the Bulldogs finished with 206 team points to edge edging Southern Connecticut and Holy Cross in the team standings.

Robertson finished in 29th in 19:16 while Black was right behind her teammate to finish 30th in 19:24.

"I was happy with the team's performance at this stage in the season. All of the women improved from last week so with 7 weeks before the NEC championships, I am very optimistic with how we can do," said Coach Reilly. "We got to race over the conference championship course today so that was a good benefit."

Lauren Ganim (Trumbull, Conn.), 63rd in 21:40; Emileigh Gilfoy (Sutton, Mass.), 5th in 23:03, and Kaitlynn Campbell (Shrewsbury, Mass.), 69th in 23:46, rounded out the scoring for the Bulldogs.

"The men also performed well with it being there first race over the 8km distance. They are a really great group of guys who are willing to put in the hard work. I expect that effort to pay off by the time conference rolls around," added Reilly.

On the men's side, the Bulldogs finished eighth overall with 187 points to top ninth-place finisher Southern Connecticut. David Hurley (Ashaway, R.I.) was Bryant's top finisher, placing 23rd overall in 27:21. Teammate Ben Coughlin (Worcester, Mass.) ran a fine race for the Bulldogs, taking 33rd overall in 27:51 while teammate Colin Gannon (Litchfield, Conn.) was not far behind as the sophomore crossed the finish line 35th overall in a time of 27:53.

Senior Scott Twardowski (Rehoboth, Mass.) clocked in at 28:34 to finish 47th with freshman Chris Chapruet (Danvers, Mass.) taking home 49th in 28:43.

"Today's race was very competitive with many of the best conference teams racing so we got a good view of what we are up against this season. The training is designed for everyone to get better as the season goes on so I am really looking forward to the next two months," said Reilly.

The Bulldogs will take part in the Codfish Bowl Sept. 25 at Franklin Park in Boston.