Men's Cross Country Takes 2nd Place at St. Joe's Maine

STANDISH, Maine – Lasell College tallied 101 points to place second overall at the 2015 8K Runnin' Monks Invitational on Saturday afternoon. The runner-up accolade marks the best finish in the Runnin' Monks invite since Lasell has participated in the event - a statistic dating back to 2008. 

Maine-Farmington, which last won the Runnin' Monks event in 2007, earned a first place finish and top team honors after placing all five scorers in the top 20 individually. Lasell College was the runner-up with 101 points, University of New England placed third (108), Thomas College was fourth (113) and Emmanuel College finished fifth (125).

Maine Maritime (141), Maine-Presque Isle (160), Saint Joseph's (186), Emerson College (225), Johnson State (234), Nichols College (286), Wheelock College (354) and Husson University (365) also raced in the event. Maine-Augusta, Mount Ida College and Central Maine Community College featured fewer than five runners in the 8K race.

For the Lasers, sophomore Nick Garifalos (Spotswood, N.J.) finished 7th overall at 29:14.1, right on par with his 8K at UNE. Freshman James Phelps (Westbrook, Maine) and sophomore Jeremy Shriber (Monroe Valley, N.Y.) finished 14th and 15th at 30:01.7 and and 30:09.1, respectively. It was a breakthrough race for Phelps who finished second for the team for the first time in his career.

Freshman Ryan Dalaba placed 31st (31:15.8), junior Cameron Wiewel (Kennebunk, Maine) finished 34th (31:22.7), and senior Patrick Sponzo (Central Valey, N.Y.) and freshman Kyle Vonick (Wethersfield, Conn.) finished 36th (31:24.6) and 39th (31:29.1) overall to equal Lasell's 101 point finish.

Sophomore Troy Gonsalves (Providence, R.I.) finished 53rd at 32:11.8 - 2:11.5 minutes faster than his last race at UNE.

The Lasers will head to Boston, Mass. on Friday, October 16 for a local race at conference foe Emmanuel College starting at 4:45 p.m.