WESTFIELD, Mass. (October 10, 2026) – The Western New England men's and women's cross country teams competed at the James Earley Invitational on Saturday morning, seeing the women's team take fifth out of 15 teams, while the men's team picked up a sixth-place finish out of 13 teams. Five Golden Bears in the women's race (5K) and six from the men's race (8K) came away with career-best times at the event. 

Women's Top Performers:

• Olivia Kay once again led the pack of Golden Bears this weekend, racing the 5K event in 19:50.9, taking 24^th place overall out of 139 runners. The race is Kay's best mark in a 5K in her career. 
• Lia Pouliot was right behind Kay, coming in 29^th place overall in the race, clocking in with a time of 19:54.3. Pouliot sees a 28-second drop off from her previous best 5K to today's time, with her previous best a 20:22.2. 
• The Golden Bears continued to cross the finish line when Caitlin Reilly crossed at 20:31.8, taking 43^rd overall. This is also a career-best for the WNE junior dropped her previous time by 16 seconds. 
• Fallon Lynch placed 52^nd in the race for Western New England, coming in with a time of 20:49.3 on the day. 
• Ava Bulmer picked up a 71^st place finish for the Golden Bears in a time of 21:42, dropping over a minute and a half off her previous best 5K time, which came last season at the same race. 
• Kenna O'Brien rounded out the group of Golden Bears to compete on Saturday afternoon, coming away with a 78^thplace finish in 22:22.2, as the deuces were wild in just short of a two-minute drop off of her previous best time coming early this season at the Fred Pavlich Invitational (24:16.9).

Men's Highlights:

• In the 8K event, Western New England was led by Nicholas Smith, who took 20^th place overall in the race, completing the race in 26:47.9, a career-best. 
• Lucas Franco was right behind Smith, taking 25^th place overall for Western New England, picking up a time of 27:09.9. 
• Gianni Santagata and Pablo Tapion finished in 49^th and 50^th place, respectively, Santagata finished the race in 28:20.2, while Tapion crossed in 28:21.6, 1.4 second difference between the two. Tapion's race is a career-best but .1, with his race last week at Keene State a 28:21.7. 
• Kyle Cichowicz raced to a 29:02.6 finish in the event, matching his time from last week, which was a career-best. 
• Jamie Hosier placed 68^th for the Golden Bears on Saturday in the 8K race, coming away with a time of 29:07.6. Alejandro Rivera was right behind Hosier, placing 70^th overall at 29:17.6, a new career-best by over two minutes. 
• Jack Gibbs finished the race in 75^th place for the Golden Bears on Saturday afternoon, crossing the finish line in 29:22.4, a career-best. 
• Travis Ryley (29:27.0), Austin Vale da Serra (29:50.5), Frank Kelly (30:13.1), and Christian Goranson (32:57.5) also competed for the Golden Bears. 

Up Next on the Schedule:

• Western New England will compete in its only home meet of the season next Saturday, October 17 for the WNEU Invitational. The women's race will begin at 10:00 AM, while the men's race will take place at 11:00 AM.