BIDDEFORD, Maine – The Saint Joseph's College men's cross country team placed sixth with 152 team points in the 8K University of New England Invitational at Rotary Park on Saturday. Sophomore Nick Shuckrow (Winslow, Maine) paced the Monks with a career-best 27:39 effort and finished 14th out of 145 runners overall.
For the first time in 10 seasons, six Saint Joseph's male runners finished with sub-30 times in an 8K event. Freshman Lucas Fisher (Strafford, N.H.) was right behind Shuckrow with a 27:43 time, which was good for 17th place, while senior Joe DiSalvo (Derry, N.Y.) (28:30, 28), junior Sam Dunay (Groton, Conn.) (29:07, 42), junior Taidghe Hagan (Reading, Mass.) (29:49, 51) and junior Andrew Caron (Gardiner, Maine) (29:52, 53) all turned in sub-30 performances.
Caron and Dunay also notched personal-best times at UNE while senior Jeff Merrill (Fitchburg, Mass.) rounded out the SJC participants with a 33:56 time, which was good for 75th overall.
The last time six SJC harriers tallied sub-30 times in the same event occurred on October 23rd, 2004 when Matt Ferguson (28:03), Matt Hughes (28:16), Matt Olson (28:42), Matt Vasil (29:38), Garrett Gaetani (29:43) and Matt Salch (29:52) accomplished the feat at the Dirigo Championship at Maine-Machias.
With five individuals in the top 10, University of New England won its annual event for the first time – after finishing as the runner-up in four of the last five years - with 24 team points while Gordon College placed second with 87 points. Wentworth Institute (89 points), Wheaton College (103) and Endicott College (109) rounded out the top five institutions.
Nor'easters junior Cameron Vallie earned top individual honors with a 26:15 time, 13 seconds ahead of runner-up Ian Barber of Lesley College. UNE's Shane Murphy placed third (26:28), Dan McSolla of Wentworth was fourth (26:31) and Endicott's Zach Marshall capped the top five with a 26:33 effort.
The Monks return to the trails next Saturday at University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth.
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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.
