Owen leads Seahawks at James Earley Invitational
WESTFIELD, Mass. (October 12, 2019) - Senior captain Olivia Owen (Weymouth, Mass.) raced to a career-best time at 5,000 meters, leading Salve Regina to an eighth-place finish in the James Earley Invitational at Westfield State University on Saturday.
Owen cruised over the grass-and-trail course at Stanley Park, splitting the first mile at 5:55 and the second at 12:01, all the while moving into the top 25 in the field of 229 runners. The captain finished at 19:27.2, an improvement of five-tenths of a second over her previous personal best for a cross country race, which was run at UMass-Dartmouth in 2017.
Sophomores Cate Norton (Newtown, Conn.) and Christina Moran (Oceanside, N.Y.) also managed personal-best performances while running in the second and third spots for Salve Regina. Norton crossed the line at 19:58.8 for her first sub-20:00 finish. Moran was not far behind, finishing at 20:04.6. Juniors Sydney DeCesare (Johnston, R.I.) and Kat Bruce (Dalton, Mass.) completed the scoring, also with collegiate-best times for 5,000 meters.
"It is encouraging to see so many personal- and collegiate-best performances on a day like this one. Racing conditions were ideal, and were in a position to take advantage of them," said head coach Rob McGuinness. "It is a validation of our hard work to this point, and an affirmation that we are on the right track."
Unattached runner and Westfield State alumna Jesse Cardin was first across the finish line in 17:57. Westfield State sophomore Amy O'Sullivan finished second – and first in scoring – at 18:02. Trinity College placed three runners inside the top 20 en route to the team title. The Bantams topped the scoring with 74 points. Worcester State was second with 106, and Westfield State was third with 122. Salve Regina finished eighth out of 30 teams.
Salve Regina performances included:
White Race (Varsity)
19. Olivia Owen – 19:27*
44. Cate Norton – 19:58*
48. Christina Moran – 20:04*
65. Sydney DeCesare – 20:27^
94. Kat Bruce – 20:51^
102. Cianna Lynch – 21:11
107. Fran Moore – 21:18
114. Emma Cote – 21:31^
Blue Race (Open)
23. Taryn Terracino – 21:46^
24. Jenna French – 21:47^
55. Rachel Sandri – 23:27
59. Morgan Stewart – 23:35^
66. Amanda Brosnan – 24:07^
67. Kelsea Kidney – 24:07^
81. Jillian LeBeau – 25:22
The Seahawks return to action in the Commonwealth Coast Conference Championship on Nov. 2.
