CHICOPEE, MA- It was an outstanding day of competition for the Lasell College women's cross country team at the Elms Blazer Invitational, finishing 5th out of a field of 15 as a squad. The Lasers missed out on 3rd place at the meet by a mere 15 points, ending the day with 127 points on the 5K course.
Salve Regina University was the top team to compete, notching 31 points, followed closely by the University of New England with 35 points as well as the top female runner, Jess Parlow, who clocked a time of 19:31 in the women's race.
Rhode Island College took 3rd place and fellow Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) member Johnson & Wales University edged Lasell by just 12 points to take 4th place. The Lasers beat out Mount Ida (8th, 247 points) and St. Joseph College of Connecticut (12th, 303 points) as the other two conference teams competing.
Senior captain Meghan Missett (Lowell, MA) continued her reign as the top women's runner, finishing with a course personal best time of 20:47 and a 13th place finish overall. Missett slashed 25 seconds off her preceding course best time and only one GNAC runner placed ahead of Missett at the invitational.
Freshman Amy Santella (Cheshire, MA) finished second for Lasell with an outstanding 16th place finish, the first GNAC rookie and third GNAC runner overall to cross the finish line. Santella ended the race in 21 minutes flat, just 39 seconds behind the top first year runner.
Jess Smith (Townsend, MA) came in 31st with a finishing time of 22 minutes and 15 seconds, duplicating exactly her previous race time of 22:15 at the UMass Dartmouth Invitational just last weekend.
Sophomore Solange Carpenter (Gorham, ME) made a impressive jump, taking 46 seconds off her prior course record at Elms, finishing 37th and clocking a 22:39. Just one second later, Amanda Driscoll (Roslindale, MA) ended the race in 38th place individually.
Christina Annicelli (North Easton, MA) and Kelly Pigott (Upton, MA) concluded the Laser runners at Elms, with times of 24:32 and 27:57 respectively.
The Lasers are back in action on Saturday, October 1st at Gordon College for the annual Pop Crowell Invitational.