By Nick Rosa
Blue Devil seniors Sam Alexander and Alasia Griebel led their respective teams to a fourth and fifth place finish this past weekend at the Ted Owen Invitational held at home at Stanley Quarter Park. The men finished with a total of 126 points, while the women finished with a team score of 119 points.
Alexander led the way for the men finishing third overall with a time of 25:30 on a soggy, humid morning at Stanley Park. Seniors Anthony Gonsalves and Ben Lazarus were next to finish with times of 27:18 and 27:47. Gonsalves finished 16 overall and Lazarus finished 26.
While the men had some runners sit out, like Craig Hunt and John Krell, the team was looking for its second consecutive win at the Ted Owen Invitational. “If we ran with a full squad, we definitely would have gone in expecting to win it. It’s still really early, it’s important for our team to remember they’re doing a lot of volume right now when a lot of other teams aren’t,” Alexander said.
Finishing 29th for the Blue Devils was sophomore Andrew Hill, with a time of 27:50. Brian Biekert finished 52nd, posting a time of 28:56, while Mike Waterbury finished just behind him at 57th with a time of 29:03.
Northeastern dominated the field with a low score of 33 points. American International and University of Connecticut finished in front of CCSU with 99 and 102 points. CCSU finished tied for fourth with Hartford, while Wagner, Rhode Island, Bryant, Marist and Fairleigh Dickinson finished behind the Blue Devils.
Glarius Rop from American International finished first overall with a blistering time of 24:55. That mark was a mere five seconds off of the course record held by former CCSU great, Ry Sanderson, who ran a 24:50 at last year’s Northeast Conference Championships.
“Sam ran a strong race, we just need more guys up with him, that would have been a better team result,” Coach Eric Blake said. “September is more about the training than the racing. Some guys had a good race last week, and now it’s time to get them ready for October racing. Everybody is on a different plan,” Blake added.
The women finished fifth overall while senior Griebel finished eighth overall with a time of 18:37. The second Blue Devil to finish was sophomore Elizabeth Eberhardt, who came in at 15th overall and posted a time of 19:07.
Other finishers included Senior Amanda Asaro who came in 30th at a time of 19:57, while freshman Shannon McBride took 31 in a time of 20:02, and Meagan MacBryde finished 35th in a time of 20:32.
Marist won the meet with a total score of 55. Behind Marist was Rhode Island with a score of 56, University Connecticut with a score of 99, and Wagner with a score of 115. Finishing behind CCSU was Northeastern, Bryant, Hartford, American International, and Fairleigh Dickinson.
Michelle Gaye finished the Invite in first, marking a time of 18:04.
“The women’s team had good pack led by Alasia, which was good to see,” Blake said. “They improved their one through five and is much closer then they have been all year, which is good,” Blake added.
Going into October and championship season right around the corner, Blake and senior runner Alexander are very optimistic about their experienced team.
“Our race in two weeks at New England Championships is going to be the biggest indicator of how we’re going to do later on in the season,” Alexander said.
Blake is very happy with the improvement of both teams over the last couple weeks. The thing Blake would like to see in both teams is having the one through five runners be much closer together in the race.
With an off week next week for both teams, they have a chance to regroup and be ready for New England Championships Oct. 8 in Boston.