STANDISH, Maine – The Saint Joseph's College men's cross country team kicked off the 2014 season with a second place finish in the Monks Early Bird 6K race, which was held at the SJC course on Saturday morning. Sophomore Nick Shuckrow (Winslow, Maine) paced the Monks and finished fifth overall with a 21:56 performance.
University of New England placed five of the top six runners, including individual winner Cameron Vallie (Nashua, N.H.), and won the event after totaling 16 points. Lasell College placed third with 68 points.
Vallie, a junior captain for the Nor'easters, toured the 6K course in 21:29, eight seconds ahead of his senior teammate Peter LePage (Limerick, Maine). UNE runners Jon Zalman (Nashua, N.H.) (21:47) and Shane Murphy (Glastonbury, Conn.) (21:51) finished in third and fourth place, respectively.
For the Monks, freshman Lucas Fisher (Coe-Brown, N.H.) placed seventh with a 22:10 time in his first collegiate competition while senior captain Joe DiSalvo (Derry, N.H.) was close behind with a 22:16 effort.
Junior Taidghe Hagan (Reading, Mass.) (16th, 23:50), junior Andrew Caron (Gardiner, Maine) (20th, 24:30), senior Jeff Merrill (Fitchburg, Mass.) (31st, 26:51), senior Matt Boucher (Augusta, Maine) (34th, 28:52), junior Billy Brooks (36th, 31:51), sophomore Calvin Field (Windham, Maine) (38th, 33:09) and junior Mark McCarraher (Franklin, Mass.) (39th, 33:23) also raced in the 2014 opener.
Freshman Nicholas Garifalos (Spotswood, N.J.) finished as the top runner for Lasell with a 22:56 effort and placed 10th overall.
Saint Joseph's returns to action next Saturday with an appearance in the UNE Invitational, which is set to begin at 11:30 AM at Rotary Park in Biddeford.
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Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 430-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.
