Women’s Cross Country Places Sixth at Western New England Invitational

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Freshman Meagan Dias (Ludlow, Mass.) placed ninth overall, leading the Western New England University women's cross country team to a sixth-place finish this morning at its annual home meet, the Western New England Invitational.

Dias completed the five-kilometer course, which runs through the woods and athletic facilities on the Western New England campus, in 20:18. Her ninth-place effort helped the Golden Bears finish sixth as a team with a total of 142 points. Westfield State University won the team title with 32 points and also boasted the top two finishers in Jess Cardin (18:29) and Ashley Monahan (19:26).

Gordon College placed second with 69 points, while Worcester State University (93), the University of Saint Joseph (Conn.) (129) and Rhode Island College (138) rounded out the top-five in the 17-team field.

Sophomore Kathleen Silveira (Plainfield, Conn.) was the second Golden Bear to cross the finish line this morning, doing so in 20:00, good for 27^th overall out of 141 competitors. Junior Amy Grindle (Feeding Hills, Mass.) followed Silveira in 35^th place (21:20), while senior Hailie Laviolette (Palmer, Mass.) and freshman Kaitlin Armstrong (Bolton, Conn.) finished 43^rd (21:43) and 56^th (22:20), respectively.

Rounding out Western New England's top-7 today was junior Rachel Duda (Clinton, Conn.) and sophomore Bailey Maus (Durham, Conn.). Duda turned in a time of 22:42, good for 63^rd overall, and Maus finished 74^th in 23:30.

Western New England will be off next weekend before returning to action on Saturday, October 31^st at the Commonwealth Coast Conference Championships.