Falcons Soar in Sheehan Memorial Invite
LEOMINSTER, Mass. - Fitchburg State University hosted its annual Jim Sheehan Memorial Alumni Invitational on Saturday afternoon at Doyle Conservation Center. The men's squad took top honors with a perfect 15 points, with Eric Ouellette placing first overall with a time of 26.41. For the women, Nicole Gaffney paced the Falcons with a finish time of 21:43 for eighth overall, and led the team to a second place finish.
Brian Amaral (27.35), Jake Hastings (27:59), Joseph Darrigo (28:06), and Anthony Darrigo (28.28) followed Oullette in the shoot for second, third, fourth, and fifth respectively to seal the top team performance ad claim the Sheehan Invite for the third straight year.
Rounding out the remaining five runners for the Green & Gold was Matthew Cuomo with a ninth place finish, crossing the line at 29:41, while Timothy Allen and Michael Martin finished 12th and 13th respectively at 29:47 and 29.57. Rookie Salaheddin Barhoum placed 20th at 31:13, and Mark Tonelli rounded out the Falcons top ten at 31:32 for 24th place.
Juniors Kelly McCarthy (22:02) and Sadie Zbikowski (22.22) followed Gafney placing 10th and 11th overall, while Casey Taylor and Shawna Ryan closed out the Falcons top five at 13th and 22nd place with finish times of 22:50 and 23:43.
Jessica Mangan crossed the chute at 24:13 (32nd) and Holly Wentworth took 34th place with a time of 24:17. Grace Morrissey and Ebony Schuerman placed 46th and 47th respectively with times of 26:18 and 26:45, while Cassie Lavallee rounded out the FSU top ten at 28:24 in 55th place.
Worcester State took the women's team top honors with 37 points and placing four runners in the top ten. Lasell's Selena Colon was the top individual performer with a winning time of 20:09.
Fitchburg State will be back in action next Sunday, Sept. 13 as they travel to New England College at 11:00 am.