SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Worcester State University women's cross country team placed 3^rd place out of 15 full teams (three partial) at the 5K Western New England Invitational on Saturday morning.

Freshman ECAC Division III New England Rookie of the week, Mia Rogers (North Dighton, Mass.), led the team for another week, once again, placing 4^th out of 141 runners competing with a finish time of 19:43. This time is the fastest time ever run on this course by a Worcester State runner (previous record holder was Chelsey Peso '15 who ran it in 19:55), besting the previous mark by 12 seconds.

"Mia's time today was an excellent time for a freshman on this course," said head coach Gary Jusseaume. "I expected her to run 19:25, but her training level this week impacted her performance. The same is true for Laura DelleChiaie."

Finishing at 14^th place was another freshman, Laura DelleChiaie (Haverhill, Mass.) with a time of 20:32.

Freshman Kelsey Bedard (Leominster, Mass.) and sophomore Danielle Cote (Dighton, Mass.) marked 22^nd and 26^th place with times of 20:54 and 20:58, respectively.

Sophomore Sara McIsaac (Weymouth, Mass.) came in 30^th place, crossing the finish line at 21:06. The other top finishers for Worcester State included freshman Shayla Schoeneberger (Vernon, Conn.) and sophomore Justine Murdocca (Milford, Mass.) who came in 33^rd place with a time of 21:17 and 38^th place with a time of 21:26, respectively.

"The team's overall performance in today's meet was sub-par," said Jusseaume. "We worked a heavy training week in preparation for the conference championship. That took the edge off the total team effort. Nevertheless, we still had some personal bests (McIsaac, Murdocca, and Sullivan)."

"We're ramping up our training focus the next two weeks in preparation of the MASCAC Championship," said Jusseaume. "I fully expect significant personal performances by each member of the team in that meet."

Top Six Team Scores:

1. Westfield State (32 points)
2. Gordon College (69 points)
3. Worcester State (93 points)
4. St. Joseph's College (CT) (129 points)
5. Rhode Island College (138 points)
6. Western New England (142 points)

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