Blazers Invitational

Chicopee, MA, September 24, 2005

2005 Blazers Invitational Recap

by John Beattie

Johnson State College, Mount Ida College Take First Place at Blazers Invitational

CHICOPEE, MA. Sept. 25, 2005 - Newbury College freshman Herrel Siller, Jr. (Palo Alto, CA) set a Blazers Invitational men's course record at 25:59 while earning first place overall, but Johnson State College placed four runners in the top ten to claim the team championship at Saturday's Blazers Invitational men's 8K cross country meet at Chicopee Memorial State Park.

Led by a 26:46 second-place finish by sophomore Gabe McConkey (Afton, VA), the Johnson State College men tallied 36 points to edge-out returning champion Lasell College (46). Newbury College (76) earned third place while Landmark College (85), and MCLA (110) rounded out the men's five-team field.

The 5K women's race drew a tie for first place between Mount Ida College and returning champions Lasell College at 58 points each. The victor was then decided by the runner who finished sixth for each team, giving Mount Ida a seven-point margin to take first place. Leading the way for Mount Ida was freshman Kendra Pilon (Kingston, NH) and junior Danielle Ring (Leicester, NH) finishing fourth at 22:29 and fifth at 22:33, while Lasell freshman Kayla McKenna (Warwick, RI) picked up third place at 22:02.

The Johnson State College women received outstanding performances by freshman Allison Robinson (Bethlehem, NH) with a time of 21:12, outlasting junior teammate Jen Dickie (Windham, NH) by just 22 seconds to earn first and second place overall. Bay Path College of Longmeadow, MA gained 78 points to take third place.

Top 10 Men's Individual Results 1 Herrel Siller, Jr. Newbury College 25:59 2 Gabe McConkey Johnson State College 26:46 3 Chris Johnson Lasell College 28:08 4 Chris Kuntz Landmark College 28:41 5 Jonathan Prease Johnson State College 28:43 6 Greg Lauranzano Lasell College 28:54 7 Brian Philips MCLA 29:31 8 Matt Chamberlain Johnson State College 29:32 9 Don Iles Lasell College 29:33 10 Mike Iula Johnson State College 29:43

Top 10 Women's Individual Results 1 Allison Robinson Johnson State College 21:12 2 Jen Dickie Johnson State College 21:34 3 Kayla McKenna Lasell College 22:02 4 Kendra Pilon Mount Ida College 22:29 5 Danielle Ring Mount Ida College 22:33 6 Amanda Meyer Bay Path College 22:43 7 Samantha Billington Lasell College 22:49 8 Jaye Weldon Newbury College 22:57 9 Chantel Zieger Johnson State College 23:53 10 Stephanie Rattigan Newbury College 23:59

Women's Team Results 1 Mount Ida College 58* 2 Lasell College 58 3 Bay Path College 78 Inc. Elms College Inc. Johnson State College Inc. Landmark College Inc. Newbury College *Decided by tiebreaker.

Men's Team Results 1 Johnson State College 36 2 Lasell College 46 3 Newbury College 76 4 Landmark College 85 5 MCLA 110