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Sylven's 16th Leads Owls at 27th Annual Earley Meet

The Westfield State men battle for position at the start of the 2023 James Earley Invitational.
The Westfield State men battle for position at the start of the 2023 James Earley Invitational.
Posted: Oct 07, 2023

WESTFIELD, Mass. -- Nathan Sylven finished 16th to lead the way for Westfield State's men's cross country team at the 27th annual James Earley Invitational meet at Stanley Park on Saturday.

Sylven ran a time of 26:13 on the 8,000-meter course, on a humid day that featured intermittent showers during the four-race festival.

The meet is named in the memory of James Earley '95, a former member of the Owls cross country team who passed after a motorcycle accident the summer before his senior year.

Will Buckley was the second owl to hit the tape in 51st place and a time of 27:20.

John Nekitopoulos (74th, 27:54), Abdi Nassier (86th , 28:12) and Gordon Johnson( 99th, 28:36) rounded out Westfield's scoring five runners in the race that featured 25 scoring teams and 202 athletes.

The Owl men placed 11th in the team scoring with 297 points.     Wesleyan won the meet with 56 points, RPI was second with 83 and Plymouth State third with 107.

Plymouth State senior Michael Olson finished strongly to win the race in 24:56.41, followed by Utica College first-year Bennett Melita (25:16)  and Wesleyan first-year Noah Mahoney (26:39).

Westfield State alumnus Jon Joyce was 11th in 26:05, to turn in the top result among a number of Owls alums who returned for the races.

In the men's "Blue" (JV) race, RPI swept four of the top five placings, led by sophomore Joey Smith in 26:30.   RPI won the team scoring with 20 points to Wesleyan's 51.  Westfield finished 7th among 12 scoring teams with 191.   The WSU alumni entry was sixth with a score of 187.

Nick Hanley was the top Owl in 38th with a time of 29:37.   Westfield's Tyler Meunier was 43rd in 29:54, Lorcan Bergeron was 44th in 29:57.

Among notables for the Westfield State Alumni were John Messer (13th 27:57) and Dan Haryasz (44th, 29:58).

The meet served as a course preview as the Owls are hosting the 2023 NCAA Division III Mideast Regional meet on November 11.

Westfield will split their team next weekend, with athletes competing at both the Conn College Invitational and the Western New England Invitational meets.