Seahawks finish seventh at UMass Dartmouth Invitational

NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass. – Junior Alex Demeo (Burlington, Mass.), sophomore Olivia Owen (Weymouth, Mass) and senior Olivia Wilson (Bethel, Conn.) all posted sub-20:00 5K performances to lead Salve Regina to a seventh-place finish in a large, high quality field at the UMass Dartmouth Invitational on Saturday.

Assumption College, ranked No. 2 in the East Region of Division II, won the team title with a score of 56. Trinity College finished second with 87, while Brandeis University, ranked No. 6 in the New England Region of Division III, placed third. Salve Regina finished one spot behind Salisbury College of Maryland, ranked No. 9 in the Mideast Region of Division III. There were 40 teams in the meet.

With the leaders setting a blistering pace in the opening mile, the Seahawks gained good position off the starting line and quickly settled into place. Demeo split the first mile at 5:53, with Owen at 5:56 and Wilson at 5:59. Demeo battled for a spot inside the top 20 throughout the race, crossing the finish line at 19:12. Owen and Wilson finished at 19:28 and 19:37, respectively. The times marked collegiate bests for all three Seahawks.

"This was an outstanding early season performance for Alex, Liv and Olivia. Those personal bests were well deserved, and an indication of the good things to come for our frontrunners," said head coach Rob McGuinness. "Our program has historically performed very well at UMass Dartmouth, and this meet was no exception."

Senior Alexa Cipkas (Granby, Conn.) ran in the No. 4 spot for Salve Regina, splitting the first mile at 6:05 on her way to finishing in 20:01. Sophomore Cianna Lynch (Cranston, R.I.) rounded out the scoring at 21:06, while freshmen Francesca Moore (Old Saybrook, Conn.) and Kat Bruce (Dalton, Mass.) held jobs in the top seven for the second consecutive meet.

The Seahawks posted an aggregate time of 1:39:24.00, an average of 19:52.8 for each of the five scorers. That performance stands at No. 5 on the program's all-time list for combined time at 5,000 meters.

Results:
20. Alex Demeo – 19:12
33. Olivia Owen – 19:28
45. Olivia Wilson – 19:37
73. Alexa Cipkas – 20:01
144. Cianna Lynch – 21:06
149. Francesca Moore – 21:17
163. Kat Bruce – 21:31
173. Ashley Schafer – 21:39

DeCesare sets pace in sub varsity race

Freshman Sydney DeCesare (Johnston, R.I.) led the Seahawks to a fourth-place finish among 12 teams in the sub varsity race, crossing the finish line at 21:13. Junior Annie Mozzer (Agawam, Mass.), sophomore Rachel Sandri (Marlboro, N.Y.), senior Hannah Lussier (Belchertown, Mass.) and freshman Jillian LeBeau (Bristol, Conn.) completed the scoring.

25. Sydney DeCesare – 21:13
39. Annie Mozzer – 21:36
40. Rachel Sandri – 21:38
44. Hannah Lussier – 21:46
77. Jillian LeBeau – 22:50
88. Molly Kittler – 23:18
109. Katie Gillespie – 24:45
128. Aoife Duffy – 25:48