SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (November 2, 2024) – The Golden Bears hosted the Conference of New England Championship meet on campus today. Olivia Kay led the women's team with a season-best time. Matt Provost would lead the men's team with a top-20 time in the Championship meet.

Place:

Women's Team: 7th/8

Men's Team: 8th/10

How it Happened:

The women's 6000m race was the first to run at noon. Olivia Kay led the Golden Bears with another season-best time. Kay completed the race with a time of 25:07.45, which was a season-best time by just over four and a half seconds. Lia Pouliot was the next to run through the finish line for WNE. Pouliot finished with a time of 25:35.32. Nina Garofalo would run through the finish line next for the Golden Bears. Garofalo finished with a time of 26:06.14. That was a season-best time for the 6000m race by just under one minute and forty-seven seconds. Maria Da Silva finished next with a season-best time of 27:07.58. That was a season-best time by over two minutes and fifteen seconds. Lauren Vossler and Caitlin Reilly were next with a time of 28:20.26 and 28:31.25, respectively. Eleni Kantos finished after Reilly with a season-best time of 29:57.85. Kantos broke that previous season-best time by over thirty-two seconds. Alyssa Clemence was the next Golden Bear to finish with a season-best time of 30:53.26. Clemence broke the previous season-best time by just under one minute and seven seconds. The women's team finished the meet with 203 points, which placed them seventh in the meet.

The men's team raced next in the 8000m race at 1:00 PM. With 119 runners in the race, Matt Provost finished in 20th place. Provost finished the race with a time of 26:49.92. Nicholas Smith was next to finish for the Golden Bears. Smith had a time of 28:42.55. John Bieszczad completed the race next with a time of 28:57.66. Pablo Tapion was next for WNE. Tapion earned a season-best time of 29:43.09. That was a season-best time by just under one minute and four seconds. Next, Brian Krzanowski picked up a season-best time of 29:58.96. That was a season-best time by just over forty-seven seconds. Joshua Farrell was the next Golden Bear runner through the finish line with a time of 30:05.24. Carter Masse placed next for WNE with a time of 30:29.57. Frank Kelly was next with a season-best time of 31:28.32. That was a season-best time by just under five seconds. Liam Horan was next to finish with a time of 32:21.47. Nicholas Carlson would complete the race next with a time of 32:33.77. Carlson had a season-best time by just over three seconds. Lance Tomlinson finished after Carlson with a time of 32:58.45. Isaac Pedro was the next WNE runner to finish with a time of 37:10.00. The Golden Bears finished with 211 points and placed 8th in the meet.

Coach's Corner:

Head coach Jon Harris was asked for a comment on the meet and what Harris thought about both teams' performances. "Every single one of our runners on both the women's and men's teams showed great determination today. Many of them ran their best races of the year and I am very proud of all the hard work that went into those performances. We came into the championship meet hoping to catch a few more teams, but we knew that it would take a lot to make that happen. We did our part, but our competitors had great days as well. The CNE has really become a powerhouse for cross country, but we look forward to continuing to make positive strides within the conference next year," Harris stated.

Up Next on the Schedule:

• The Golden Bears will be back on the course on Saturday, November 16, 2024, for the NCAA Mideast Regional Championships. That meet will be hosted by Connecticut College and will take place in New London, Connecticut. The races will begin at 11:00 AM.