The University of Maine men’s and women’s cross country teams competed in the America East Championships on Friday at the Penobscot Country Club for the first time. The men’s team placed second, finishing behind the University of Massachusetts Lowell River Hawks, tying their highest placement since 2016. The women’s team placed fourth with 88 points, their highest placement as well.
The men’s race kicked off first at 10 a.m. UMass had the top performer of the day, second-year Jan Wouter Van Den Akker, who had the fastest time by 20 seconds with 24:07.14. UMass had five racers finish in the top ten: third-year William Benoit finished sixth with 24:45.79, fellow third-year Hunter Marion finished in eighth place with 24:59.28, second-year Sean Kennedy-Wonneberge in ninth place with 25:00.94 and second-year Joseph Young finishing in 10th.
Fourth-year Luke Marsanskis had the fastest time for the Black Bears, finishing in fourth place at 24:39.16. Second-year Evan Thornton-Sherman finished right behind Marsanskis with a time of 24:39.75. Fourth-year Alec Troxell finished in 12th place with a time of 25:11.07, while third-year Lucas Bergeron rounded off the top 20 for UMaine, placing 16th with a time of 25:28.34.
The final standings for the men’s race were UMass with 34, UMaine in second with 76, University of New Hampshire (UNH) and Binghamton University tied with 97, The University of Vermont (UVM) finished with 114 for fifth, the University Of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) finished sixth with 123, Bryant University finished seventh with 182, New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) finished eighth with 229 and the University at Albany finished ninth with 261.
The women’s race would get off to a rough start as some of the racers on multiple teams tripped and fell. UMass second-year Mary-Kate Finn had the fastest time of the day for the women, edging out UMaine’s first-year Megan Randall after a tight race with a time of 17:17.18 to Randall’s 17:25.27. Though Finn had the fastest time, it was Binghampton who wound up winning the race with a score of 69 points. They were led by fourth-year Sophia Ryan, who finished in fourth place at 17:46.00.
Third-year Marlee Yoder led the Black Bears as she finished in 11th place for the Black Bears with a time of 18:33.50. Fourth-year Lydia Gilmore finished the race in 18th place at 18:45.89. Fellow fourth-year Rachel Hodge finished in 25th place with a time of 18:58.91.
Vermont would finish second with a score of 77, beating UMass’ 81 and UMaine’s 88. UNH finished in fifth place with a score of 113, UAlbany finished in seventh with a score of 126, Bryant finished in eighth with 148, NJIT finished with 220 and UMBC finished in ninth with 240.
Following the match, Black Bears head coach Adam Ward was named the 2023 America East Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year.
UMaine will compete in the NCAA Regional Championship in the Northeast region on Nov. 5 at Columbia University in New York City.