Just five points separated meet hosts Marist, and second place UConn women’s cross-country team in Poughkeepsie, New York this Saturday. The Huskies had a firm grip on second place with a score of 42, as third place Albany had 72 and fourth place Fairfield had 80 points in the 5K race.
Junior Loghan Hughes finished with a personal best time of 18:19.8, right behind second place Parker O’Brien of Marist. Madison Relyea came in fourth behind Hughes. The senior clocked in at 18:21.3 with an average mile time of 5:54.4. Freshman Claire Paci ran exceptionally well for her first collegiate race. The Pennsylvania native set the bar high for herself with a time of 18:29.9, good enough for a seventh-place finish.
The rest of Connecticut finished within the top 30 out of the 63 competitors. The junior trio of Calista Mayer (12th), Jackie Izzo (22nd), and Allison McCarthy (27th) had times of 18:57.1, 19:27.1 and 19:54.9, respectively.
The Huskies also had five male competitors, who finished with a respectable fourth place in their season opener at Marist, despite other programs sending at least seven runners. UConn’s 91 total points was only 20 points off second place, Marist scoring 71, just a mere five points behind Albany, who finished in third place with 86 points.
Iona was a powerhouse in the 6K taking eight of the top 10 spots, with the other two being UConn competitors. Travis Martin opened his senior campaign with a sub 5:00 average mile time and a total time of 18:24.5, enough to earn himself a fourth-place finish.
Griffin Mandirola opened his collegiate career by squeezing in-between Iona runners with a very impressive ninth place. Mandirola, who holds high school cross country and track records throughout the state of Connecticut, ran a 19:00.8.
Finishing right outside of the top 10 was Samuel Geisler who was 12th, scraping under the 19:10 mark by a tenth of a second.
Mahamed Sharif (41st) and Kadin Salaria (64th) rounded out the Huskies’ day of running. The senior ran a time of 20:04.1 while Salaria of Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, went 20:47.1 in his college debut.
The next meet for Connecticut is the Spiked Shoe Invitational taking place at Penn State on Friday, September 13. UConn will face off against the likes of UPenn, Duquesne University and Bucknell.