Both the men’s and women’s cross country teams of Central Connecticut were back in action Friday at the NCAA Northeast Regionals, where both squads finished in the bottom 10 of competing schools.

For the Northeast Conference Championship winning women’s team, they were yet again led by sophomore Angelia Rafter, who crossed the line in 66th place out of 243 competing runners. She was one of two Blue Devils on either side to place in the top 100.

Head coach Eric Blake singled out Rafter for finishing for finishing about 100 spots higher than she did last year.

Also in typical fashion, sophomore Megan Brawner and senior Dawn Hubbell finished second and third for the Blue Devils, respectively. Brawner completed the six-kilometer course in exactly 24 minutes, while Hubbell crossed the finish line just over 15 seconds later.

NEC Rookie of the Year Ashley Dana finished the course under the 24-minute mark like Brawner and Hubbell, good enough for 177th place overall.

The final Blue Devil, whose score was counted, was sophomore Sabrina Chesters, whose time of 25:20.9 put her within the top 200 overall.

Blake was pleased with the women’s performance calling it their, “best finish in years.”

Senior Madeline Mondo, whose return to competition played a crucial role in the team’s NEC championship performance, did not compete.

Also on the men’s side, senior Alex Norstrom, who has led the Blue Devils in every race he’s competed in except one (finished second), did not participate.

Blake said both Mondo and Norstrom were “not 1oo percent physically healthy, so we shut them down and are getting them ready for indoors.”

Blake continued to say that both runners were only at 50 percent for the NEC Championship meet, “but only ran to give the team a shot at the title.”

“Both are seniors so it wasn’t an easy decision to end their season,” Blake said.

On the men’s side, this opened the door for junior, Roberto Piotto to cross the finish line first for his team, for the third time this season. He finished the 10-kilometer course in 34:25.9, good enough for 59th place out of the 214 competing runners, the only runner on the men’s side to finish in the top 100.

Junior Richard Grudzwick continued his fine season when he finished 153rd, finishing the course in just under 36 minutes. Sophomore Charles Taubl finished just under a minute after Grudzwick, finishing in 171st place overall.

Senior Patrick Halloran was a top-five finishing Blue Devil for the first time this season, crossing the finish line in just seven seconds under 37 minutes. Blake was particularly pleased with Halloran’s performance.

“In August, I would not have thought Pat would be our fourth guy at the regional but he earned his spot each meet,” Blake said.

The Blue Devils have one more day of competition on the schedule for the season. On Saturday, Nov. 17, the Blue Devils will travel to the Eastern Conference Athletic Championships, which Blake compared to the NIT Tournament for college basketball.

“We have only raced a max of six times this year so some of the younger runners will benefit. As for the seniors, this is it, so we want them to end their college cross country career’s on a good note,” Blake said.