Seahawks kickstart season at Pilgrims' event

NEWPORT, R.I. - While the Pilgrims settled throughout New England and the Mayflower arrived near Plymouth, Mass., the Seahawks will be running in the Mayflower Kickoff event hosted by the Pilgrims of New England College at Henniker, N.H., later this month.

While his role is new, first-year head coach Rob McGuinness has been a part of the program's steady development over the last three years.

"The team is poised for continued improvement this year, and our schedule gives us an opportunity to demonstrate our progress. We'll revisit the sites of some of our fastest individual performances - UMass Dartmouth and Western New England - and some of the fastest combined team times in school history. Our freshmen are adding a fair amount of depth to our lineup, so I would not be surprised to see the team continue to rewrite the record book for men's cross country at Salve Regina."

Salve Regina has only one Friday event (the Mayflower Kickoff) while all the other races compete on Saturdays.

McGuinness added that opening with 5K races gives the freshmen a few weeks to get acclimated to the college level before making the transition to 8K distance. "We'll face a good mix of conference and regional competition in the invitational meets, and I'm eager to see how the men build on the good work that they've done in the last two seasons."

Gordon College will host the CCC Championships on November 1 in Wenham, Mass.