BIDDEFORD, Me. – Worcester State's Mia Rogers (N. Dighton, Mass.) helped her team to a second place finish at the University of New England Invitational as she, herself, finished second place in the 5K race.
The University of New England took the crown, as they had seven of the top ten runners and marked an average time of 20:09:25.0. Worcester State followed with an average time of 21:29:32, ahead of Endicott, Plymouth State, Gordon, Suffolk, Maine Maritime, Mass. Maritime, Lyn, and Mount Ida.
"Mia ran a terrific race," commented head coach Gary Jusseaume. "Her time of 19:52.0 was nearly a minute faster than last year's time on this same course."
Rogers was just five seconds behind University of New England's first place finisher, Tiana Thomas, who finished in 19:47.0.
"At the first mile mark, Mia was running way off the pace of the leaders and that caused me some real concern," stated Jusseaume. "But she closed the gap on the leaders and ran considerably stronger near the end of the race. Again this week, she ran a well-designed tactical race."
The next finisher for the Lancers was once again, freshman Elisabeth Olson (Wilmington, Mass.) who placed 18th with a time of 21:43.0.
At 21st and 22nd place were Justine Murdocca (Milford, Mass.) and Laura DelleChiaie (Haverhill, Mass.) who completed the race in 21:52.0 and 21:53.0, respectively. Next was freshman Courtney Guay (Londonderry, N.H.) at 24th.
"These girls ran strong races and tightened the gap among our top point scorers," mentioned Jusseaume. "That's marked progress over last week's meet."
Edging closer behind the point scorers were Katerina Lucier (Portsmouth, R.I.), Kelsey Bedard (Leominster, Mass.) and Emily Bumpus (Bridgewater, Mass.). "Their efforts pushed back key scorers from other competing teams," said Jusseaume.
Next up, the Lancers will travel to Dartmouth to compete in the UMass Dartmouth Invitational on Saturday (Sep. 17).