CHICOPEE, Mass. (September 13, 2025) – WNE came off an impressive showing in Vermont last weekend and ran into the Elms College Blazer Invitational. They would run out of the invitational with two first-place team trophies and an individual first-place trophy, thanks to Lia Pouliot winning the women's 6k race. The women placed five runners in the top eight, and the men placed five runners in the top nine to secure those victories.

Place:

Women's Team: 1st/6

Men's Team: 1st/6

How it Happened:

Women's Race:

• The women's 6k race was the first to run at 10:00 AM.
• Lia Pouliot won the race for the first time in Pouliot's Golden Bear career with a time of 25:21.30 and an average mile pace of 6:48.0.
• Olivia Kay earned second place in the race with a time of 25:30.1 and an average mile pace of 6:50.4.
• Nina Garofalo placed fifth in the race, with a time of 25:50.9 and an average mile pace of 6:55.9.
• Caitlin Reilly finished just after Garofalo, in sixth place, with a time of 25:55.6 and an average mile time of 6:57.2.
• Fallon Lynch then placed eighth, with a final time of 26:21.8 and an average mile time of 7:04.2.
• WNE won the women's 6k race with 22 points, 17 points better than second place.

Men's Race:

• The men ran the 8k race after the women's 6k race concluded.
• Joshua Farrell would place second overall, finishing with a time of 28:39.5 and an average mile time of 5:45.9.
• Lucas Franco followed in third place, with a time of 29:01.4 and an average mile time of 5:50.3.
• Nicholas Smith placed fourth in the race, with a time of 29:13.3, averaging 5:52.7 per mile.
• John Bieszczad placed eighth in the race and averaged a 6:13 mile to finish with a time of 30:54.4.
• Gianni Santagata placed ninth, with a time of 31:00.0, averaging 6:14.1 per mile.
• WNE won the men's 8k race with 26 points, 19 points past second place.

Coach's Corner:
Coach Harris was asked to comment on the team's success on Saturday. "It was a great weekend for the cross country program. Having both teams take home the 1st place trophy in the same meet is always special. The Elms race is typically a place where we compete well. Chicopee State Park is a challenging place to run, but we always seem to rise to the occasion. The men's team came in having won the previous four times we competed here. They were pretty confident, ran smart races, and really pushed each other for the whole 5 miles.The women's team hadn't won here since 2022. They came up just short last year and were really motivated to get the win this season. It was one of the best races we have run as a team in a long time" Harris stated.
"On the individual side, it was great to see Lia get her first collegiate win. She has worked extremely hard ever since she arrived at WNE. She was frustrated by an injury last spring but put in the miles over the summer to bounce back this season. I think this will be a big confidence booster that will propel her and her teammates to a big next two months."
 

Up Next on the Schedule:

• The teams will travel across the state to the UMass-Dartmouth Invitational in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts, next Saturday, September 20, 2025, with the first race starting at 11:15 AM.