SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Endicott College men’s and women’s cross country teams both placed fifth out of nine teams at this past weekend’s The Commonwealth Coast Conference Cross Country Championships held in Springfield, Mass. The Gulls had a pair of top-10 finishes as \#Greg Payne\# (North Attleboro, Mass.) placed eighth overall and \#Kim Shepherd\# (Essex, Conn.) finished ninth in the field.

On the women’s side, Shepherd was the top finisher for Endicott with her time of 25:08. \#Brittaney Plante\# (Nashua, N.H.) placed 25th with her time of 26:16 while \#Megan McGraw\# (Georgia, Vt.) finished only seven seconds behind, with a time of 26:23, good for 29th place. A trio of Gulls placed 39th through 41st as \#Lynne Gallagher\# (Lowell, Mass.), \#Holly Davis\# (Guilford, Conn.) and \#Kelly Cameron\# (Barrington, R.I.) finished one-second apart with time of 27:05, 27:06 and 27:07, respectively.

Roger Williams took home the team championship with Salve Regina and the University of New England rounding out the top three. Salve’s Paige Pallotto won the race with her time of 23:31. UNE’s Jess Partlow finished second overall while Roger Williams’ Emily Tran finished in the top three with her time of 24:10.

Individual and team honors were also awarded on Saturday as Palloto was awarded the TCCC Runner and Rookie of the Year. Salve Regina’s David Bender was named the TCCC Coach of the Year and Stephanie Capan of Anna Maria College was honored as the Senior-Scholar Athlete of the Year. Gordon College was recognized with the 2009 Team Sportsmanship Award.

For the 18th-consecutive race, \#Greg Payne\# was the top-finisher for the men’s team with his time of 27:55 and eighth place finish. \#Brendan Mitchell\# (Chelmsford, Mass.) finished 43rd with his time of 31:24 while \#Sam Turner\# (Portland, Maine) completed the 8k race with a time of 31:39, good for a 46th place finish.

Roger Williams came away with the men’s championship as well followed by Gordon and the University of New England. UNE’s Matt Veiga won the individual portion of the race and was followed by Roger Williams’ Mitch Leveille, Jon Ellis and Tom Maybury, who took home 2nd through 4th place.

The men’s individual and team awards were also given away on Saturday as Matt Veiga was named TCCC Runner of the Year. RWU’s Mitch Leveille was named 2009 Rookie of the Year while Gordon’s Rowan Walker earned the Senior-Scholar Athlete Award. John Molvar of Gordon College was named TCCC Coach of the Year while Roger Williams took home the Team Sportsmanship Award.

The Blue and Green return to the trails on Saturday as the Gulls will participate in the ECAC Championships held on November 7th. The women take off at 11:00 a.m. while the men run at 12:00 p.m. 

The full results of The Commonwealth Coast Conference Championships can be seen by clicking here.