As the Red Flash loaded up the bus to come back to Loretto from Central Connecticut State University, they had wrapped up their third meet of the fresh season.  With the women taking third of 16 teams and the men finishing fourth out of 14, one could say that it was a pretty successful weekend.

“It was definitely our most competitive race so far,” said senior team member Kylie Jackson.

Jackson finished fourth at CCSU out of 148 female runners, and has finished in the top five of every meet thus far this season.  During her first couple of years as a Frankie, Jackson struggled to finish top five on the team.

“So I’ve come a long way,” said Jackson.  “It’s taken a lot of hard work.”

Jackson and the rest of her teammates continued practicing over the summer to stay on the top of their game.

“The team is doing really well,” said Jackson.  “We were the second NEC team at the last meet and we were only ranked 6^th coming in so that is awesome.”

According to Jackson, the team just needs to continue to focus and stay healthy, which is also the biggest challenge facing the team.  With a two week break before the next meet, the Flash hope to get a solid block of training in between now and then and also to get and stay healthy.

On the men’s side, Ryan Kennedy led the way at CCSU finishing 12^th overall out of the 135 male runners.

“That was my first race of the season,” said Kennedy, “and it gave me a good idea of what to expect at the conference meet.”

The CCSU meet was Ryan’s first due to injuries from last track season that took until July to heal.

“The summer is such a crucial time to get in mileage, so missing out on that really set me back,” said Kennedy.  “I’m just focused on increasing my mileage and intensity so that I can be in a position to make a big contribution for our team at the NEC meet.”

Having many young players on the team hasn’t negatively impacted the team’s level of competition.

“A few of [the underclassmen] have been working out and racing with our front group of guys which is super exciting,” said Kennedy

The next meet for both the men and the women is Oct. 18 at Princeton University in Princeton, N.J., and the Northeast Conference championship meet will be held on Nov. 1 at New Britain, Connecticut, the same location of the meet at CCSU this past weekend.