James Early Invitational @ Westfield State

Both teams had a very good meet this past weekend, where both teams ran well, looked strong, worked together and stood well above the competition.  Due to construction work at Franklin Park and the site / day change of Open New England's, the teams competed on Saturday at a great invitational hosted by Westfield State.  It gave us a great opportunity to preview the course prior to racing there again in November.

The fields in both races were large, with over 45 teams competing in each and 450 + runners to contend with.  And while there were a lot of bodies to work through, the Panthers found their way to the front of the field in both races by the 1st mile.  In the men's race, the Panthers held the top spots through out the entire race and was also joined by Conn's All - American Michael LeDuc.  At the finish line, Senior Captain, 3 time All American Jack Davies prevailed over Leduc, while Jack's team mates secured 4 of the top 5 places.  In  the women's race, again, the front pack was dominated by the Panthers with the overall race being led by Amherst's All American Keri Lambert.  Addie Tousley (finishing 2nd overall) led our Women's team as she had all season.  Donning a uniform for the first time all season was Captain Emily Attwood.  Emily had been plagued with a knee injury since the spring but had put in a tremendous amount of time cross training.  Her fitness is high and it was a great boost to the team to have her back in uniform.

Overall, we were happy with the results of the day and enjoyed getting practice over the course.  We have a light meet this coming Friday afternoon at St. Mike's college (women race at 3:30 & men at 4:15) and then the College has off for the mid-term fall semester break.  Our training has been nothing short of exceptional and Noah & I are excited for the Conference meet at the end of the month.  Bowdoin will be hosting the meet on Saturday, October 27th.  We know it will be a great day to be a Panther! 

Cheers & have a great week!
Nicole