Senior Nico Gallo placed 47th (30:58) in his return to the WNE lineup on Saturday at the Jim Sheehan Memorial Invitational. (Photo by Bill Sharon/Spartan Sportshots)

Posted: Sep 01, 2018

Golden Bears Finish Eighth at Jim Sheehan Memorial Invitational

Spooner leads WNE in collegiate debut, placing 31^st in 29:44

LEOMINSTER, Mass. (September 1, 2018) – The Western New England University men's cross country team turned in an eighth-place finish on Saturday at the season-opening Jim Sheehan Memorial Invitational, hosted by Fitchburg State University at the Doyle Conservation Center.

Western New England posted a team score of 200 on its way to eighth place in the nine-team field. UMass Dartmouth claimed the team title with a score of 50, while host Fitchburg State (74) and Worcester State (83) rounded out the top three. SUNY Cobleskill freshman Dillon VanDemortel topped the 91-runner field after completing the eight-kilometer course in 26:23.

Top Performers
Making his collegiate debut, freshman Anthony Spooner (West Bridgewater, Mass.) paced the Golden Bears with a 31^st-place finish in 29:44.

Sophomore Jackson Day (Stamford, Conn.) followed in 39^th place and clocked in with a time of 30:07, while senior Nico Gallo (Ludlow, Mass.) finished 47^th (30:58) in his return to the Western New England lineup.

Freshman Kyle O'Hern (Lincoln, R.I.) was the fourth Golden Bear to cross the finish line, doing so in 31:28, and junior Adam Monroe (Wilton, N.Y.) placed 55^th with a time of 31:46.

Up Next
Western New England will be off next weekend, before returning to action on Saturday, September 15^th at the UMass Dartmouth Invitational.