Sept. 8, 2007
Biddeford, ME - Freshmen Kelsey Conn (Batavia, NY/Elba) ran away with the University of New England Invitational title picking up her first collegiate career win and pacing the Gulls to a second place finish as a team.
Conn won the race in convincing fashion as she covered the 5,000 meter course in 20:35, 35-seconds faster than second place finisher Megan McClelland of Bates College. Nicole Prokop (Montgomery, MA/Gateway Regional) was the second finisher for the Blue and Green coming in at seventh overall in a time of 21:57. Megan McGraw (Georgia, VT/Essex) crossed the line third for EC in 22:39 good for 17th place overall while Heather Hauser (Somersworth, NH/Somersworth) was 31st in 23:17 with Jackie Collier (Swampscott, MA/Bishop Fenwick) rounding out the scoring for Endicott finishing 46th in 24:32.
Conn's individual win and Prokop's top ten finish led the Gulls to a second place finish in the team standings with 85 points. Bates scored just 29 to walk away with the victory but Endicott was 21 points better than TCCC rival Salve Regina who finished third with 106 points. The Gulls also bested conference rivals UNE (5th place, 117 points) and New England College (8th place, 211 points).
On the men's side senior captain Ryan Darmody (Portsmouth, RI/Portsmouth) and sophomore Sam Turner (Portland, ME/Deering) led the Gulls to a seventh place finish as a team. The duo crossed the line just a second apart with Darmody (40th, 34:43) edging out Turner (41st, 34:44) in the final feet of the 8,000 meter race. Brendan Mitchell finished 47th in 35:45 while Michael Macisso ran 36:12 for 50th place. Ryan Slobin rounded out the scoring for the men finishing 55th place in 36:49.
The University of Southern Maine won the overall team title with just 18 points as twins Curtis and Nick Wheeler took the top two spots with Chris Hopkins finishing third and Marc Halverson taking fourth. With the top four finishers the Huskies narrowly missed out on sweeping the meet with a lowest possible score of 15 points.
The Gulls return to action on Saturday, September 15, 2007 when both the men and women head to the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth for the Shriner's Invitational. The meet features some of the top teams in the New England Region and is regarded as one of the regions faster cross country courses.
