XC Opens Strong at Blue Jay Invitational
WEST HARTFORD, Conn, -- The Mitchell College men's and women's cross country teams opened up the 2022 season at the University of St. Joseph in West Hartford on Saturday morning, competing in the Emily MacEwen Blue Jay Invitational.
The men's team finished tied for first with the Blue Jays, both scoring 28, but came in second after losing the tiebreaker, while the women's squad did not post a team score.
The tie went to the Blue Jays due to the fact that their sixth place runner came in before the sixth place finisher from the Mariners.
Albert Franck paced the Mariners with a time of 20:09 and finished second overall. Liam Robb, Collin Rider, and Tim O'Hara all ran strong races, finishing fourth (22:37), fifth (22:44), and sixth (23:02) respectively. Rounding out the scoring for Mitchell were Geldon Dawson (35:31) and Aldon Dawson (25:31).
The top overall finisher on the men's side was University of St. Joseph runner Braeden Laframboise, who crossed the finish line in 19:02.
The Mitchell women posted three individual finishers, highlighted by Abby Rasmussen, who crossed the finish line in a time of 25:32, good for third overall. Rounding out the scoring for the Mariner women were Aizhane Glenn, who came in 12th overall at 32:46, and right behind her at 13th overall was Sarah Parker with a time of 35:21.
The top overall finisher on the women's side was University of St. Joseph runner Makenzie Dinger, who finished the race in 24:28.
The race was the debut for Mitchell coach Tim Strong, who was hired in March of 2022 to head both the men's and women's cross country programs. He previously served as head coach of the cross country and outdoor track programs at Ledyard High School, where he led the Colonels to an Eastern Connecticut Conference Division II championship in 2019.
Mitchell will compete next in the Mitchell Invitational on Friday, September 16.