Submitted by Dominick Delello, Saint Michael’s College.
The Saint Michael’s College women’s and men’s cross country teams finished in eighth and 11th, respectively, on Saturday, Oct. 20, 2018 at the Bruce Kirsh Cross Country Cup at the Hopkinton State Fairgrounds in New Hampshire. The Purple Knight women finished with 200 points in the 5K, only eight behind The College of Saint Rose, while the men’s team had 283 points in the 8K, matching 10th-place Saint Rose and trailing ninth-place University of New Haven by a point.
On the women’s side, junior Abby French (Nashua, N.H./Academy of Notre Dame) finished fourth out of 124 runners, clocking in with a personal record of 18:52.1 for her 11th career top-10 finish as well as her fifth top-10 showing in as many races this year. The five consecutive top-10 finishes is the longest streak by a Purple Knight since Chloe Boutelle ’15 finished in the top 10 in seven straight races in 2013. Junior Emma Koukos (Scarborough, Maine/Scarborough) tallied a 44th-place finish with a time of 20:31.9, while senior Emily Calder (Hopkinton, N.H./Hopkinton) registered a time of 21:01.4, good for 55th overall. Sophomore Molly Nemes (Plymouth, Mass./Sturgis Charter Public School) came in 63rd, crossing the finish line at 21:13.0. First-year Hannah Muse (Yarmouth, Mass./Nauset Regional) posted a time of 21:21.8 to place 65th while senior Kara Hettinger (Lindenhurst, Ill./Saint Joseph Catholic Academy) sped in at 21:34.5 to finish 74th. First-year Eleanor Devereux (Jericho, Vt./Mount Mansfield Union) set a PR with a time of 21:36.3, ending up two spots behind Hettinger in 76th. First-year Colleen Tubridy (Chelmsford, Mass./Chelmsford) finished right behind in 77th, landing a time of 21:37.6.
For the men, senior Nathan Terry (Reading, Mass./Tilton School) set a PR of 27:56.1, besting his previous record by 1:01.6 to lead the Purple Knights with a 61st-place finish. Four Purple Knights finished in consecutive order with junior Kevin Jeter (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie) placing 74th at 28:41.1, first-year Jake Donnelly (Londonderry, N.H./Londonderry) grabbing 75th at a PR of 28:49.1, senior David Baird (Higganum, Conn./Haddam-Killingworth) coming in 76th at 28:53.4, and first-year Nate Hartley (Hadley, N.Y./Hadley-Luzerne) finishing 77th with a time of 28:53.9. First-year James Downs (Winchester, Mass./Winchester) clocked in right behind the quartet at 29:08.1, notching a 79th-place finish while classmate John Cunningham (Springfield, Mass./Kearsarge Regional) came in 81st at 29:20.6.
