BIDDEFORD, Maine- Competing in the University of New England Invitational, the Endicott women's cross country team finished second out of 14 schools in the meet, tying the team's finish from last year's UNE Invitational. 

The Gulls were led by a strong performance from the trio of rookie Abigail Keim (Williston, Vt.),  junior Kiera Malone (Woburn, Mass.), and freshman Samantha Pearl (Concord, N.H.) who finished 14th, 15th and 16th overall.  Keim, the team's top runner in 14th place, bested her 33rd place finish from last week. The freshman closed in a time of 21:19.0, just seven-tenths of a second faster than Malone who finished in a time of 21:19.7.  Malone's place of 15th was 15 places better than her 30th performance from last year. Pearl finished right behind Keim and Malone with a time of 21:28.6.

Junior Kelly O'Neill (Cumberland, R.I.) was right on the heels of the top trio, finishing 18th in the field of 151 runners in a time of 21:38.0. Her time set a new personal best by three seconds, which she set last week at the RWU Invitational. 

Closing out the scoring for the second straight week was freshman Maeve Kelly (Washingtonville, N.Y.) who finished 20th overall. Kelly's time of 21:44.7 beat her personal best set last week as well by over 12 seconds. 

INSIDE THE TIMES

• The second place finish at the UNE Invitational tied last year's performance but the Gulls were able to shave off 10 points as they closed with a score of 81 overall.
• Endicott's score of 81 helped them finish four points ahead of Gordon and 222 points ahead of Nichols and behind only UNE in terms of CCC competition.

TOP QUOTE

"The women ran a very impressive race," said head coach Spencer Lange. "We knew UNE would be ahead so our focus was on Gordon and Worcester St. They have very similar teams so it made for a competitive race. I liked seeing our women fight for their spots during the race and continue looking ahead. The goal was to race in packs and they did exactly that, finishing 14th, 15th, 16th, 18th, and 20th. We have a break next weekend then return to racing at the Bowdoin Invitational (6k) the following weekend. I am looking forward to our training this coming week and hoping to build off the early season success we have had so far."

WHAT'S NEXT

The Gulls have two weeks to prepare for the Bowdoin Invitational on September 26 at Bowdoin in Brunswick, Maine against a deep field. Endicott's first race in Massachusetts is on Saturday, October 10 at the James Early Invitational in Westfield, Mass.

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