Still Sets Course Record at Mitchell Invitational

NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Wheelock College men's team and the Lesley University women's team each claimed victories at the 2017 Mitchell College Cross Country Invitational on Saturday morning.

The Wheelock men placed four runners in the top 10—led by a fourth-place showing by Riley Cushing—and tallied a team score of 34. Dean College placed second with 54 points while Elms College came in third with 72 points. Mitchell and Lesley rounded out the team scoring with totals of 81 and 103, respectively.

Mitchell's David Still was the first runner to cross the finish line, logging a course-record time of 17:14.9. Newbury's Geralson Withrow finished as runner-up in a time of 17:20.0. The two ran nearly step-for-step for most of the race, although Still made his move with 150 meters to go and broke away down the final stretch.

Still bested the course record by more than a minute, eclipsing the mark set by Chris Gentry (18:26.3) in 2016. Still's time was also 1:20 faster than his effort in 2016 in which he finished as runner-up to Gentry.

In the women's race, Lesley had five runners finish in the top eight to secure the team win with a total of 19 points. Elms (39) and Mitchell (80) rounded out the team standings.

Lesley's Amy Bouchard edged out Elms' Sarah Tatgenhorst for the women's individual title. Bouchard closed a considerable gap on the back stretch of the final leg, taking the lead as both runners made the final turn for the finish line. She sprinted the final 100 meters to cross the line in a course-record time of 21:14.6, with Tatgenhorst right behind at 21:16.2.

Nick Lebron (21:25.9), Blessing Keaton (22:08.1), Ajibola Majoyeogbe (24:45.3) and Evan Kristal (27:20.8) rounded out the top five for the Mitchell men. Kate McCormack paced the Mitchell women with a time of 25:32.1 and finished 21st overall. Caelin Hetherman (26:41.4), Francesca Pinard (28:07.2), Victoria Chalko (30:05.2) and Kaitlyn Polcaro (30:48.3) rounded out the top five for the Mariners.

Mitchell will next run at the Blazer Classic Invitational on Saturday, September 23 at Chicopee State Park at 11 a.m.