[Pcalumnixctrack] Providence College Women’s Cross Country Place Fifth At Adidas Wisconsin Invitational

[Laura A Nagel]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, October 16, 2015
Contact: Laura Nagel, 401-865-1245

Providence College Women’s Cross Country Place Fifth At Adidas Wisconsin Invitational
The women placed fifth, without their No. 1 runner, at the Wisconsin Adidas Invitational, while the men finished 15th.

MADISON, Wis. – The Providence College men’s and women’s cross country teams competed at the Adidas Wisconsin Invitational in Madison, Wis. today (Oct. 16). The women placed fifth without their No. 1 runner, Catarina Rocha, while the men finished 15th, beating No. 16 Indiana and No. 11 Wisconsin.

Senior Sarah Collins (Basil, Switzerland) went straight to the front of the 246-person field. She remained in the lead until the last mile of the race. With 1km to go, Collins was sitting comfortably in eighth-place and held her position to the line. Collins finished with a time of 19:50.8.

Senior Lauren Mullins (Binghamton, N.Y.) sat in the top-30 throughout the majority of the race. She faded back to 37th with 1km to go to. She finished strong around the last bend, capturing the 31st spot in a time of 20:20.7 as the second Friar across the line.

Sophomores Katie Lembo (Penfield, N.Y.) and Brianna Ilarda (Perth, Australia) worked together during the first half of the course. Lembo gradually worked her way up to be side-by-side with Mullins with 1km to go, eventually finishing 42nd (20:26.7). Ilarda wasn’t too far behind Lembo, finishing 58th in a time of 20:34.4.

Senior Molly Keating (Rehoboth, Mass.) had a breakthrough performance over the 6km course. Keating ran through the field over the last half of the race to finish 125th (21:14.9), as well as capturing the fifth spot for the Friars.

Like Keating, sophomore Mackenzie Barry (Mendham, N.J.) had a good performance. Barry finished 152nd in a time of 21:27.8.

Junior Emily Bushey (Vernon, N.J.) rounded out the Friars top-7 after crossing the line in 168th (21:37.8).

“We are very happy with the results given that we didn’t race Catarina,” said head coach Ray Treacy. “Everyone rose to the occasion and we got what we needed to get out of the meet.”

On the men’s side, the 8km race stayed bunched with at least 200 athletes within five seconds of one another for the first 5km. Senior Julian Oakley (Tauranga, New Zealand) and sophomore Thomas O’Neill (Middletown, N.J.) held their positions in the front half of that pack for the first half of the race.

As the field strung out, Oakley and O’Neill worked off of one another in the top-60. Coming around the last bend, Oakley picked up bodies and finished 45th (24:08.5) as the first Friar across the line. O’Neill finished only seven seconds behind Oakley as the second Providence runner in 64th (24:15.7).

Juniors Hugh Armstrong (Ballina, County Mayo, Ireland) and Trevor Crawley (Cumberland, R.I.) and sophomore Aaron Hanlon (Drogheda, Ireland) all finished relatively close to one another. Armstrong led the way for these three throughout the majority of the race, eventually finishing 97th (24:26.2). Hanlon, after a fall in the first mile, regained his position in the field and finished 114th (24:31.3), while Crawley grabbed 133rd (24:37.5) as the No. 5 Friar.

Rounding out Providence’s top-7 runners were seniors Stephen Robertson (Wakefield, Mass.) and Christian Costello (Ridgewood, N.J.). Robertson and Costello finished 176th (24:57.5) and 199th (25:02.7), respectively.

“We saw great progress on the men’s team from the race at Princeton two weeks ago,” said Treacy. “Today was a huge improvement and we beat some really good teams. This performance helps our cause getting to the NCAA Championship and we are looking to improve again over the next 2 weeks for the BIG EAST meet.”

Next up for the Friars, the ‘B’ teams will travel to the CCSU Mini Meet on October 23, while the ‘A’ teams will prepare for the BIG EAST Championships on October 31 in Mason, Ohio.

- GO FRIARS -




Laura Nagel
Sports Information Graduate Assistant
Providence College
1 Cunningham Square
Providence, R.I. 02918
(o) 401-865-1245
Online Portfolio?<http://cargocollective.com/lauranagel>
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