DARTMOUTH, Mass. – The Worcester State Men's Cross Country team placed 34^th out of 43 complete teams at the UMass Dartmouth Shriners Invitational Saturday afternoon in the five mile run.

The first Lancer to cross the finish line was freshman Michael Ricci (Peabody, Mass.) with a time of 28:00.99 at 128^th place. Behind Ricci was freshman Christian Vera (Worcester, Mass.) with a finish time of 28:59.32. "Mike continues to impress me each week and Christian is beginning to be more aggressive in the beginning of the race," said head coach Al Halper.

Sophomore Marques Johnson (W. Hartford, Conn.) ran his first race of the season on Saturday. "He ran very conservatively for the first half of the race but came on very strong during the second half," said Halper. Johnson finished with a time of 30:17.83.

Next up for the Lancers was sophomore Dan Brunelle (Dracut, Mass.) with a finish time of 31:15.05, placing 250^th out of the 324 runners at the invitational. "Dan had a solid race coming off an injury and came on strong the second half of the race as he continues to strive to return to last year's form."

Shortly behind Brunelle, was freshman Carlos Nieves (Clinton, Mass.) with a time of 31:53.52, who Halper notices his great transition into college cross country as his times are steadily improving each week.

Finishing up the race for the Lancers was sophomore Ariel Torres (N. Andover, Mass.) and freshman Mitchell Cupp (North Attleboro, Mass.) with times of 32:53.56 and 38:54.05, respectively. "Cupp finished the race with a turned ankle and finished the race with a time not indicative of his talent," said Halper.

Running in the sub-varsity race was freshman Eric Sanford (Peabody, Mass.) and sophomore Tyler Royek (Pembroke, Mass.) with times of 33:38.83 and 35:14.38, respectively.

"The team is working hard and improving week to week as a whole. They are focused and listen well to cues during the race, including reacting well when they need to," said Halper.

"As the team comes together in the coming weeks with the entire squad competing at some of the races, we hope to surprise the competition later in the season with what the team is really capable of doing in competition."

Next week the team will compete in the Worcester City Meet next Saturday, Sep. 26.

Overall Varsity Team Scores:

1. Brandeis (93 points)
2. East Stroudsburg (116 points)
3. Connecticut College (125 points)
4. Franklin Pierce (141 points)
5. Keene State (176 points)
6. Southern New Hampshire (178 points)
7. Merrimack (199 points)
8. Trinity (207 points)
9. Fitchburg State (243 points)
10. Southern Maine (262 points)
11. Westfield State (306 points)
12. Babson (337 points)
13. Southern Connecticut State (385 points)
14. Holy Cross (467 points)
15. Eastern Connecticut State (474 points)
16. UMass Dartmouth (527 points)
17. Bentley (537 points)
18. Plymouth State (538 points)
19. Assumption (548 points)
20. Clark (Mass.) (579 points)
21. New England College (579 points)
22. Colby-Sawyer (581 points)
23. Bridgewater State (635 points)
24. Salve Regina (705 points)
25. Roger Williams (766 points)
26. Johnson & Wales (790 points)
27. Castleton State (794 points)
28. Mass. Maritime (825 points)
29. Maine Maritime (876 points)
30. Western New England (879 points)
31. Lasell (884 points)
32. Regis (Mass.) (921 points)
33. Emmanuel (Mass.) (929 points)
34. Worcester State (957 points)
35. Wheaton (Mass.) (982 points)
36. St. Joseph's (Me.) (999 points)
37. Husson (1002 points)
38. Lesley (1103 points)
39. Elms (1147 points)
40. UMass Boston (1178 points)
41. Framingham State (1248 points)
42. Anna Maria (1350 points)
43. Mount Ida (1362 points)

Full Results can be found below:

Shriner Invitational Varsity

Shriner Invitational Junior Varsity