Sept. 11, 2007
BEVERLY, MA - The women's cross country team got its season started on the right foot as freshman Kelsey Conn (Batavia, NY/Elba) raced to a first place finish in the teams opening meet. Paced by Conn's winning effort the Gulls finished second in the nine team field and look poised to have a break out season.
Junior and two-time All-CCC runner, Nicole Prokop (Montgomery, MA/Gateway Regional) joined Conn at the front of the pack as she finished seventh. The Blue and Green will rely on Conn and Prokop to lead them through a tough race schedule. The Gulls also look to improve on last years fourth place finish at the CCC Championship Meet.
On the men's side senior captain Ryan Darmody (Portsmouth, RI/Portsmouth) leads a strong group of returnees and newcomers on the trails this fall. Darmody proved to be a leader last year as he continually improved week in and week out finishing the season with a personal best time of 31:32. Darmody led The Blue and Green to a seventh place finish at the UNE Invitational to kick of the 2007 season last weekend.
Sophomore Sam Turner (Portland, ME/Deering) will also be at the head of the Gulls pack this season. Turner alternated places with Darmody during his freshmen campaign and this fall doesn't look like it will be much different as Turner was just one second behind Darmody at the UNE Invitational last weekend posting a time of 34:44.
Both the men's and women's cross country teams will benefit from strong one-two punches with Darmody and Turner leading the men and Conn and Prokop pacing the women. Each will need to see solid contribution from their third, fourth and fifth runners however if they want to make runs at top finishes in The Commonwealth Coast Conference.
Megan McGraw (Georgia, VT/Essex), Heather Hauser (Somersworth, NH/Somersworth), Jackie Collier (Swampscott, MA/Bishop Fenwick), Lynne Gallagher (Lowell, MA/Lowell) and Madora Curtin (Queensbury, NY/Queensbury) finished thrid through seventh respectivly for the women at UNE and should prove to be a formidable lineup for the Gulls.
Brendan Mitchell (Chelmsford, MA/Chelmsford), Michael Macisso (Portland, ME/Portland) and Ryan Slobin (Old Saybrook, CT/Old Saybrook) rounded out the scoring for Endicott at UNE and along with James Perkins (Biddeford, ME/Biddeford) and Michael DelVecchio (Westford, MA/Westford Academy) the Blue and Green are poised for improvement this season.
