Oct. 20, 2004
FAIRFIELD, Conn. - The Fairfield University men's and women's cross country teams, after a week off, return to the course this weekend for the Central Connecticut State Mini-Meet. Fairfield is running for the second time this season at Stanley Quarter Park in New Britain Conn.
Both teams ran the course at the park, at the season-opening Blue Devil Invitational. The men's team finished sixth out of eight teams at the first race of the season, and the women finished seventh out of nine teams, in the women's race.
Since that time, Fairfield has steadily improved each time out, and both teams head into the weekend fresh off a 33rd place showing at the prestigious New England Championships at Franklin Park, in Boston, Mass.
The New England Championships had 48 men's teams from throughout New England competing, and 45 women's teams. Last year the men finished 40th overall, and the women finished 35th overall, in 2003.
Senior Bryan Mahoney led the Fairfield men, at this year's New England Championships posting a 26:43 to finish as the Stags top runner, and 96th overall out of the 315-runner field. Justin Rindos was second on the team with a 27:20, and AJ Kastanotis was third on the team with a 28:17.
Lauren Wilson led the Fairfield women's team, crossing the finish line in 19:48 to finish 119th out of 302 runners. Stephanie Stote was second on the team with a 20:02, and Shannon Kenefick rounded out the top three for Fairfield with a 20:49.
This will be Fairfield's first appearance in the CCSU Mini-Meet, and will use this race as a warm-up to the 2004 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships, at the Disney Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., on Saturday, Oct. 30.
At last year's MAAC Championships, both of Fairfield's teams finished sixth overall.
