‘Cats Look to Carry Momentum Into Championship Meet

Saturday, November 2

Albany, N.Y.

University of New Hampshire

America East Championships

(Photo by Michelle Bronner)

Photo by: Michelle Bronner

11/1/2019 9:17:00 AM | Men's Cross Country

America East Championship Central

UNH men’s cross country aiming to return to the top of the America East standings.

DURHAM, N.H. – The University of New Hampshire men's cross country team heads to Albany, N.Y. this weekend for the 2019 America East Cross Country Championships. After an already impressive season, and big wins at the Paul Short Invitational and Fall Foliage Invitational, along with a big-time finish at the Coast to Coast Invitational, the Wildcats are looking to make their mark on this year's championship meet.

The Wildcats will travel their top runners up to Albany this Friday for a Saturday morning meet; the Wildcats are looking to senior Nicolas Sevilla-Connelly (Chester, N.H.) to continue his impressive performance this season, as well as the return of juniors James Wilkes (Concord, N.H.), Aidan Sullivan (Nashua, N.H.), and freshman Forest MacKenzie (Deerfield, N.H.), to the fold after missing some weekends in the middle of the season.

MEET INFO:
Date: November 2, 2019 – 10:45 A.M.
Location: University Cross Country Course – Albany, N.Y.
Distance: 8k

LAST TIME OUT:
The Wildcats last ran a full squad at the Vermont Fall Foliage Invitational, taking first overall.

Nicolas Sevilla-Connelly led the way finishing the 8k course a full 14 seconds ahead of the rest of the pack, finishing first overall with a time of 24:33.4.

Sevilla-Connelly was the first of four Wildcat runners that finished in the top 10, the other three being junior James Wilkes in fourth, freshman Forest MacKenzie in fifth, and junior Aidan Sullivan in eighth.

The Wildcats edged out the host team, Vermont, by just three points, at 36 points to Vermont's 39.

RANKED IN THE REGION
After their win at the Fall Foliage Invitational, the Wildcats find themselves back in the top 15 of the USTFCCCA Northeast Region poll for the second time this season. The Wildcats made the top-15 for the first time since 2015 earlier this season after their performance at the Coast to Coast Invitational, moving all the way up to #13. After falling out of the top-15, the 'Cats are back in at #15 following the win at Vermont.

FROM THE COACH:
"We'll do the normal ritual of: go to the course, jog it, try to get a good mental image of what we've gotta do. With that, we're hoping to continue what we've been doing all year, and that's not worrying about the race, just putting ourselves in it, letting it come to us, and that's what I feel we've done well the last three weeks, at Paul Short, at New England's and at Vermont. Hoping for this team to keep their 'team thoughts' going. That's how simple it is."
--Head Coach Jim Boulanger

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