Fitchburg State Visits Keene State Invitational

Men finish second overall; women place fifth

KEENE, N.H. (September 29, 2012) – The Fitchburg State men’s and women’s cross country teams competed at Keene State College this afternoon as the Falcons placed second and fifth respectively.

The Fitchburg State men ran a very strong race this weekend, finishing second to host Keene State, all while holding out last week’s top runner Eric Ouellette. Senior Will Lary (Winchendon, Mass./Murdock) led the men with an 11th place finish and a time of 27:54, while sophomore Brandon Davis (Fitchburg, Mass./Fitchburg) finished 17th with a 29:18 effort.

Senior Mike Grasela (New Bedford, Mass./New Bedford) also cracked the Falcons top five with a time of 29:25, while freshman Tim Allen (Methuen, Mass./Central Catholic) and sophomore Dan Drescher (Saugus, Mass./Saugus)added times of 29:27 and 29:55 respectively.

For the ladies, the Fitchburg State women placed fifth overall, despite not having three of its top runners.  The Falcons top five Falcons included sophomore Jenae Harrison (Sioux Falls, S.D./Washington) at 21:33, Samantha Wilkinson (Wakefield, Mass./Wakefield) at 21:33 and graduate student Linda Fortunato (Feeding Hills, Mass./Agawam) at 21:52. Sophomore Braila Roy (Hyannis, Mass./Barnstable) was also solid with a time of 22:41, whileElizabeth Ward (Ashby, Mass./North Middlesex) added a mark of 23:04. 

Fitchburg State will be back in action next Saturday as it visits Westfield State University at 11 a.m.