Eight career-bests lead Skyhawks to an 11th-place finish

BETHLEHEM, Pa. (October 1, 2016) – After a two-week break from competition, the Stonehill College men's cross country team returned to action today with an 11th-place finish in the Brown division at the 43^rd Annual Paul Short Collegiate Invitational, hosted by Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.  The Skyhawks tallied 426 points, placing themselves above Southern New Hampshire University (21^st – 603) and Adelphi University (24^th – 641).

Sophomore Lucas Taxter (Readville, Mass./Xaverian Brothers) led the Skyhawks with a career-best 25:42 placing 75^th over 401 competitors in the eight-kilometer race. Classmate Riley Dowd (Peabody, Mass./Peabody Veterans Memorial) and senior Antonio Xelhua (Arlington, Mass./Arlington) followed close behind with career-best times of 25:44 and 25:45, finishing 80^th and 84^th among runners. Junior Kenny Vinacco (Scituate, R.I./Scituate) was the next Skyhawk to cross the finish line with another career-best time of 25:47 recording a 90^th-place tally.

Freshman Michael Durkin (Hingham, Mass./Hingham) was the fifth Stonehill runner registering a career-best time of 25:51 posting a 101^st result. Junior Sam Bradford (Bedford, Mass./Bedford) was four seconds behind with a 108^th mark. Sophomore Alexander Demeule (Merrimac, Mass./Pentucket Regional) and senior Daniel Nolan (Chelmsford, Mass./Chelmsford) finished back-to-back with career-best times, placing 114^th and 115^th, respectively, with a time of 25:57.

Junior Jimmy Murphy (Mansfield, Mass./Mansfield) came in 22 seconds later with a career-best time of 26:19, recording a 162^nd-place finish. Senior Tyler Henseler (Coventry, R.I./Bishop Hendricken) rounded out the Skyhawk runners with a time of 26:39, placing 211^th in the brown division.

Nine Skyhawks also ran in the open division where they finished in the top 350 of 503 runners. Sophomore John Onken (Holbrook, N.Y./Sachem North) finished the eight-kilometer race in 26:27 tallying a 140^th mark, crossing the line as the first Stonehill runner. Freshman Benjamin Garcia (New Gloucester, Maine/Gray New Gloucester) was close behind recording a career-best time of 26:30 for a result of 146^th. About 19 seconds later, a career-best 26:49, freshman Chris Gendron (Lowell, Mass./Lowell) tallied a 184^th result, as junior Alex Southiere (Cumberland, R.I./Cumberland) finished with a time of career-best time of 26:50 in 187^th place.
Sophomore David Lockhart (Stoughton, Mass./Stoughton) finished 215^th clocking a career-best at 27:04, as sophomore Christopher Drace (Franklin, N.J./Pope John XXIII) and freshman Thomas Mackin (Lynn, Mass./Lynn Classical) were the next Skyhawks across the line with times of 27:22 placing 256^th and 257th, a career-best for Mackin, respectively.
Freshman Peter Blake (Stoneham, Mass./Austin Prep) and classmate Jeremy Breen (Watertown, Mass./Watertown) followed with career-best times of 27:42 (296th) and 28:09 (329th).

Stonehill takes on the New England Championships on Saturday, October 8 at Franklin Park in Dorchester, Mass.

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