Northampton, MA --- Highlighted by the stellar efforts of freshman Brady Phillips (Uxbridge, MA) and Jason Bangs (Charlton, MA), Worcester State had four finish inside the top 50 to help pace the Lancers to a fifth place finish at the Smith Invitational.

The Blue and Gold battled heat and humidity throughout the morning and posted a number of solid performance desipte the conditions in their season opening meet.

Phillips recorded 22nd (30:09.00) in his first collegiate race followed by Bangs who was just off the pace in 27th (30:24.00). Among the top finishers the pair had the seventh and the ninth best splits for those who were freshmen runners in the race, respectively.

First-year Greg Acosta (Lawrence, MA) took 43rd (31:16.60), classmate Bryant Va (Lowell, MA) notched 49th (31:36.40) and rookie teammate Patrick Scheeler (Wakefield, MA) added 52nd (31:40.00).

Freshman Marques Johnson (W. Hartford, CT) registered 59th (31:52.30), first-year Daniel Brunelle (Dracut, MA) placed 65th (32:42.00) and senior Wesley Hebert (Leominster, MA) rounded out the group with 71st (33:19.10).

Next week Worcester State will compete at the University of New England Invitational.