Westfield State will host the 27th annual James Earley Invitational cross country meet on Saturday, October 7 in Stanley Park.
The meet consists of four races; men's JV at 10:30 a.m. starts the day, followed by men's varsity at 11:15 a.m., women's varsity at noon, and women's JV at 1:00 p.m.
The race brings a significant number of teams, athletes and spectators to the Whip City.
37 teams will be competing in the men's races while 32 women's teams will contest. These teams will bring a whopping total of 778 competitors to compete in this meet. The meet is slightly bigger this season as the race serves as a prelude to the NCAA Division III Mideast regional meet that the Owls will host on the same course at Stanley Park on November 11, as many teams will look to get a preview of the course this weekend.
Men's Race
The Owls have been led this season by the trio of freshman Nathan Sylven (Wrentham, Mass. / King Phillip), junior Will Buckley (Plymouth, Mass.), and senior John Nekitopoulos (West Springfield, Mass.). This big three has held the top three finishes for Westfield State in three of the Owls' four events this season.
Sylven has had a great start to his collegiate career, as he nabbed two MASCAC Runner of the Week awards in the first month of the season. The freshman runner is coming off a good performance last week at the Keene State Invitational, where he finished 17th of 232 participants with a time of 26:39.4. He looks to make a good first impression at the James Earley meet.
Buckley and Nekitopoulos are looking to replicate their success from last year's James Earley meet, where they finished in the top two spots for the Owls. Nekitopoulos finished 37th out of 181 participants with a time of 27:19.38, while Buckley finished 42nd with a time of 27:26.09.
The Owls finished last year's James Earley meet in 10th place of 24 total teams. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute won the team title with three finishers in the top ten.
Women's Race
The Owls are led this season by a duo of sophomores, Shea Hamel (Longmeadow, Mass.) and Brynne LeCours (Haverhill, Mass.). These two have held the Owls top two finishes in their last two events.
Hamel is having a strong season so far, leading the Owls as the top finisher in each of their four events. Her performance in the first event of the season at the Keene State Invitational was enough to win her the MASCAC Runner of the Week award. She is coming off another top performance at the Keene State Invitational where she placed 8th out of 183 participants with a time of 19:13:9.
LeCours has been steady all season, finishing second for the Owls in three of their four events. The second-year runner finished her last meet at the Keene State Invitational in 17th out of 183 participants with a time of 19:33.8.
Another runner to watch out for is sophomore runner Julianne Kelly (Natick, Mass.), who was the leading Owl in last year's James Earley event. She fought her way to finish 14th out of 167 participants. The Owls finished the event in 3rd place out of 25 teams. Smith College won the event with four runners in the top ten.
The women's team will run the 6K course on Saturday, a distance that was last run in 2016. Typically a 5k race, the women's Early was also run at 6k in 2012 and 2002.
Last year's men's and women's James Earley team champions, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Smith College, will be running once again this year. Also competing this weekend are three schools who are in the USTFCCCA Top-10 Regional Rankings for both men's and women's cross country - Vassar College, Connecticut College, and Wesleyan University.
Five MASCAC schools will be competing this Saturday– Westfield State, Worcester State, Fitchburg State, Framingham State, and Massachusetts Maritime.
The meet this year marks the 27th time that teams have met to honor the late James Earley, a Westfield State student who passed away in a motorcycle accident before his senior year in 1995.
Course Summary
The entire race takes place within Stanley Park. The start and finish lines of both races are located on the flat, grassy field in the upper section of the park. After a few laps around the field, runners will head for the trails in the Wildlife Refuge section of the park, then the runners return to the field to complete the race, with the finish line and stretch run parallel to Western Avenue.
Forecast
Saturday's forecast shows a strong chance of rain with a high of 67 and a low of 50. Spectators of the event should plan to arrive early to beat traffic and look to park in the Westfield State Commuter Parking Lot located just down the street from the park.
--preview compiled by Cam Boudreau, sports information intern