WESTFIELD, Mass- John Nekitopoulos (West Springfield, Mass.) was the first Owl to cross the finish line, in 37th place, to lead Westfield State University men's cross country to a 10th place finish at their 26th annual James Earley Invitational meet, at Stanley Park on Saturday.
Nekitopoulos finished the 8,000-meter course in 27:19.38. This is the second time this season that Nekitopoulos has been the top finisher for the Owls, while competing in his first season of collegiate cross country.
Connecticut College senior Jeffrey Love took home the men's individual title, finishing first overall with a time of 24:55.68, holding off Roger Williams first-year Nathan Tassey, who took second overall less than a second later, finishing in 24:56.13. Springfield College junior Christopher Vayda was the last to slide into the top three finishing in 25:33.45.
Rensselaer Polytech Institute (RPI) had three finishers inside the top ten to win the team title. Freshman Brady Geisler (25:43.13), senior Jake Cooper (25:52.54), and sophomore Caleb Watson (25:56.02) secured sixth, ninth, and tenth overall respectively.
RPI finished with 45 points, outperforming Connecticut College (100), and Springfield College (102). Westfield finished with 270 points.
24 total teams and 181 total runners contributed to the men's white (varsity) race.
Owls' sophomore Will Buckley (Plymouth, Mass.) was the next finisher for Westfield State University coming in 42nd place overall with a finishing time of 27:26.09. Brandon Hager (Agawam, Mass.), Mike Maher (Attleboro, Mass.), Matthew Hall (Duxbury, Mass.), Jarrod Levina (Fairhaven, Mass.), and Daniel Botte (Norfolk, Mass.) all rounding out the Owls eight-man team in the race.
In the blue race, RPI finished with eight out of the top ten finishers. RPI's first year Andre Latina finished first overall, leaning into the finish line at 26:29.72.
RPI won the blue race finishing with a perfect score 15 points in the ten-team, 128-man footrace.
Westfield finished seventh overall out of the ten with 176 points overall. The Owls were led in the blue race by first-year Colin Mahoney, who finished 37th overall with a time of 29:36.92.
Westfield State Alumnus Jon Joyce was 24th in the men's white race, while Dan Haryasz was 18th in the blue race to highlight the competing Owls alumni.
Westfield State Cross Country will compete again next on Saturday, October 15th at the Western New England University Invitational, in Springfield Massachusetts.
-- by Dave Cataloni, sports information intern
