The cross country teams competed at the NEC Championship on Oct. 30 at Central Connecticut State and turned in some very solid times. The Red Flash women placed third and the men finished sixth.

Junior Mackenize Walker (pictured above) led the women through the 5K race with a seventh-place finish. She earned all-conference honors, becoming the 36th SFU female student-athlete to achieve this distinction.

Senior Alyssa Deschler placed 15th and junior Monica Gregg finished in 16^th place.

“I am really proud of how well we did at NECs,” said junior Adiya Golden. “Third place isn’t where we wanted to be, but we went against really good teams. I think we will be able to use this as motivation for the rest of the season.”

In the men’s 8K race, junior Zach Kohler earned his first all-conference honors, placing ninth. Senior Brendan Miller placed 15^th and freshman Shane Curran was 28th.

“After missing last year’s conference meet due to COVID restrictions, many of us came into the meet without any idea of what to expect,” said freshman Owen Bartlebaugh. “I think that, as a team, no one would describe this year as a dream season, but we showed up to the conference meet prepared to compete.

“I’m very excited to see what we can do in the upcoming track season.”

The men’s and women’s teams will compete this weekend at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Region Championship on Nov. 12 at Lehigh.