RANDOLPH, VT. (September 6, 2025) – The cross-country teams traveled to Vermont for their first races of the 2025 season. After a strong showing from both teams, the women's program would finish in medal position, with a third-place finish, and the men's program ended the meet in fourth.

Place:

Women's Team: 3rd/7

Men's Team: 4th/8

How it Happened:

Women's Race:

• Junior Olivia Kay led the Golden Bears to a third-place finish with a time of 21:36.04 in the Women's 5K race. That time earned Kay 11th place overall.
• Junior Lia Pouliot followed Kay with a time of 21.57.00, which placed Pouliot 13th.
• Caitlin Reilly was just behind Pouliot, finishing 14th with a time of 22:08.15.
• Next through the finish line for WNE was Fallon Lynch, who finished with a time of 22:41.36 and a placement of 16th overall.
• The fifth-place finisher for WNE was first-year Ava Bulmer, who placed 21st overall and had a time of 24:03.75.
• The team concluded the race with 75 points, two shy of second place, which had 73.

Men's Race:

• Senior Joshua Farrell led WNE to a fourth-place overall finish in the competition. Farrell ran a 29:09.30 8k time to place 19th overall.
• Sophomore Nicholas Smith placed just behind Farrell, in 20th place, with a time of 29:27.39.
• First-year Lucas Franco finished in 35th for WNE, with a time of 30:13.01 in Franco's first career WNE race.
• Sophomore Pablo Tapion then finished through the line in 37th place and with a time of 30:41.11.
• First-year Travis Ryley then ran through the finish line for WNE with a time of 30:49.93, and a placement of 40th overall.
• WNE ended the race with 96 points to finish in 4th place overall.

Coach's Corner:
Coach Jon Harris said this about the team's performance on Saturday. "Both the men's and women's teams had a really solid start to the season in Vermont over the weekend. There weren't a lot of personal best times, but the course was challenging, and conditions were less than ideal. Given that, I thought we ran well. You can see packs starting to form, the teamwork was great, and I think we are set up for some big improvements as the season progresses," Harris mentioned. "You can see that the returners worked hard in the off-season and are extremely motivated. The newcomers also started off with some very competitive races and showed that they are ready to contribute this year as well. Hopefully this energy carries over into the Elm's Blazer Classic this weekend where we are looking to have a strong showing and maybe come home with some hardware."

Up Next on the Schedule:

• The men's and women's cross country teams will return to western Massachusetts for the Elms College Blazer Invitational in Chicopee, Massachusetts, on September 13, 2025, starting at 10:00 AM. Elms College will host that meet.