Men’s Cross Country Preps for the Conference Championships (Oct. 31; 11 a.m.)

Saturday, October 31

Stony Brook, N.Y.

11 AM

University of New Hampshire

America East Championship

Photo by: Greg Greene

Men’s Cross Country Preps for the Conference Championships (Oct. 31; 11 a.m.)

10/30/2015 11:44:00 AM | Men's Cross Country

DURHAM, N.H. – The University of New Hampshire men's cross country team is headed to Stony Brook University to take on the conference at the America East Championship on Saturday, Oct. 31 (11 a.m.).

MEET DETAILS
The 8K race includes 90 participants, 10 from each program, battling for the top times.

LAST TIME OUT FOR NEW HAMPSHIRE
New Hampshire finished eighth at the Central Connecticut State University Mini Meet (Oct. 23) with 208 points total.

TOP SEVEN WILDCATS LAST TIME OUT

Overall Finish	Name	Time
32nd	Ryan Chiesa (Stockholm, N.J.)	15:36.2
41st	Drew Piazza (Danvers, Mass.)	15:43.5
49th	Brett Hoerner (Manchester, N.H.)	15:48.6
50th	Cody Symonds (Alton, N.H.)	15:49.1
51st	Timothy Kenefick (Guilford, Conn.)	15:50.1
55th	Neil Mistretta (Durham, N.H.)	15:52.3
68th	Joseph Verro (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.)	16:01.2

SAME MEET, YEAR LATER
New Hampshire finished fourth in the conference last season with 114 points total. Senior Brendan McCarthy (Mansfield, Mass.) competed last year and finished 44^th overall with a time of 26:16.69. Junior Mitchell Dutton (Salem, N.H.) placed 49^th overall, wrapping up the 8K in 26:25.72.

MCCARTHY TO LEAD
McCarthy heads into the championship following a 155^th place finish at the New England Cross Country Championship on Oct. 10. He finished the 8K race in 26:38.6, his best time at that distance this season. Prior to that, he wrapped up the Boston Coast-to-Coast meet (Sept. 25) in 25:34.3 for 91^st place. In the home meet to begin the season (Sept. 5), the senior placed seventh overall, breaking the tape in 16:01.8 on the 5K course followed by the Stony Brook University Invitational on Sept 12, where he placed 19^th overall (27:05.1). The senior is primed to lead the Wildcat pack and improve on the fourth place finish last season at the league championship.

GAGNON FOR GOLD
Senior Sam Gagnon (Hooksett, N.H.) is ready to race his fourth meet this season, most recently placing 35^th overall (25:27.2) at New Englands. At the Coast-to-Coast meet, Gagnon ran a 26:34.9 time for 92^nd place after completing his first race of the season at Stony Brook, finishing the race in 27:02.2 for 16^th overall. As one of two seniors racing on Saturday, both McCarthy and Gagnon will be heavily relied on to pace the group.

DUTTON DOES IT AGAIN
Dutton enters his fifth meet of the season on Saturday. To begin the junior season, Dutton raced the 5K race in 16:29.1 for 18^th place. At Stony Brook seven days later, he placed 13^th overall, his best finish this season, finishing the race in 26:57.6. Most recently, he ran at New Englands and decreased his 8K race time by about 50 seconds. Dutton finished 111^th place with a time of 26:08.0.

THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH
The squad this season set to take on the conference is very young. With two seniors, two juniors, four sophomores and two freshmen, the team has a young core that will grow into the backbone of the program. The meet gives young student-athletes a chance to look at what championship competition is like and an opportunity to learn from the veteran members of the program.

DUE NEXT
Following the conference championship, the team will compete at the NCAA Regional Championships on Nov. 13 in Boston.

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