BRISTOL, R.I. – The Endicott men’s and women’s cross country teams competed in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Championship on Saturday afternoon at Colt State Park. The women placed fifth out of nine teams competing, while Greg Payne (North Attleboro, Mass.) of the men’s team received was named the CCC Senior Scholar Athlete of the Year.
 
Payne, a senior communications major with a 4.0 GPA, has been a four year member of the cross country team, a two year captain, and three time team MVP. He has had internships with ESPN Boston, Comcast Sportsnet and the Salem News and founded his own blog about the Boston Celtics. Payne also served as Editor-In-Chief of the Endicott Observer and produced his own podcast series about the hometown basketball team.
 
At Bristol, Payne had his best showing of the year finishing third in the 62-runner field, with a time of 27:50. Payne was in the top 25 through the first mile and moved to the top ten by the fourth mile, picking off a final runner in the last 100 meters to move up to third place. Despite poor weather conditions,  freshmen Alex Walecka (Dartmouth, Mass.) and Kevin Duffy (Reading, Mass.) also put up their best 8k times of the season.
 
The women’s team competed in a field of 103 runners and had Jillian Mendes (Waterbury Center, Vt.) come in as the top Gull finisher. Mendes ran a 25:48, good for 28^th place overall and her first time as the best Endicott finisher this season. Kim Shepherd (Essex, Conn.) and Holly Davis (Guilford, Conn.) were right behind, finishing at 26:04 and 26:16, for 31^st and 32^nd place, respectively. Shepherd came on strong at the 2.5 mile mark to move up several places, while Davis exemplified grit and perseverance with her best finish of the season.
 
Freshman Jocelyn Kane (East Longmeadow, Mass.) (27:14) continued to impress for the Gulls, improving and maturing over the course of the season. Brittaney Plante (Nashua, N.H.) (27:18) rounded out the top 5 scorers with a strong effort finishing in 47^th place.   Deanna Slobin (Old Saybrook, Conn.) (27:28) and Monica Gardner (Essex Junction, Vt.) (28:05), 6^th and 7^th respectively for EC, put all their hard work this season out there with their top times for the season.  
 
The women’s CCC Cross Country Championship was won by Salve Regina, while Roger Williams took home the crown on the men’s side.
 
The men and women’s cross country teams will head to Mount Greylock next Saturday for the ECAC Invitational, hosted by Williams College.