Footit Takes Top Spot, Buccaneers Take Third at Cross Country Invitiational

BUZZARDS BAY – Massachusetts Maritime Academy junior Mara Footit (Wilbraham, MA) took top individual honors Saturday morning at the 11^th Annual Lt. Travis J. Fuller Cross Country Invitational but it was Emerson College that took the invitational title with the highest team score.

Mass. Maritime Women’s Cross Country Captain Mara Footit took top individual honors in Saturday’s Fuller Invitational on the Cape Cod Canal.
MMA Athletics Photo

The Buccaneer women took third place overall.

Emerson College freshman Chelsea Swift’s (Birch Wathen Lenox School, NY) runner-up finish led six Emerson individuals in the top 10 as the Lions took top team honors with a score of 22 while Curry College took second place with 55 points and Massachusetts Maritime took third place honors with a score of 76.

Swift posted a time of 21:14 over the 5K layout in her inaugural collegiate race to lead Emerson to its second team crown in the last three years, as the Lions recorded 22 points overall, with all five scorers finishing in the top eight.  Sophomore Cristina Ashbaugh (San Mateo, CA) was next in third place with a time of 21:37, while sophomore Eastin Ashby and junior Savannah Hubbard (Wilmington, MA) posted respective fourth and fifth place finishing times of 21:49 and 21:56.  Sophomore Nina DeSilva (Edwardsville, PA) rounded out Emerson’s scoring with an eighth place time of 22:08, while freshman Aubrey Conklin recorded a 10^th place time of 22:30 for the Lions.

Curry, which topped Emerson in last year’s race, finished in the runner-up spot with a team score of 55 points, as senior Leigha Sweeney (Braintree, MA) and sophomore Victoria Gately (Hanson, MA) paced the Colonels with respective sixth and ninth place times of 21:59 and 22:21.  Footit won the individual crown for Massachusetts Maritime with a time of 20:23 on the day, as she topped Swift by 51 seconds for the top honor in helping the Buccaneers captured third place overall with a team score of 76 points.  Sophomore Katelyn Roeser’s (Nashua, NH) seventh place finishing time of 22:07 paced Newbury’s fourth place score of 106 points, while Eastern Nazarene rounded out the team scoring with 114 points in the competition.

Senior Shavonne Boyle (Doylestown, PA) and sophomore Lexy Halpin (Plymouth, MA) recorded respective 12^th and 16^th place times of 22:46 and 23:31 for Massachusetts Maritime, while sophomore Kaylene Murphy (Randolph, MA) and freshman Myat Smith (Sanford, FL) rounded out the Buccaneer scoring in 26^th and 27^th place, respectively, with times of 25:29 and 25:36.

Massachusetts Maritime heads to Biddeford, Maine next Saturday morning to compete in the University of New England Invitational that begins at 10:45 a.m.

11th Annual Lt. Travis J. Fuller Invitational
FINAL TEAM SCORES
Emerson –  22
Curry – 55
Massachusetts Maritime – 76
Newbury -106
Eastern Nazarene114

TOP 10 INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
1.  Mara Footit, MMA – 20:23
2.  Chelsea Swift, Emerson College –  21:14
3.  Cristina Ashbaugh, Emerson College – 21:37
4.  Eastin Ashby, Emerson College – 21:49
5.  Savannah Hubbard, Emerson College – 21:56
6.  Leigha Sweeney, Curry College – 21:59
7.  Katelyn Roeser, Newbury College – 22:07
8.  Nina DeSilva, Emerson College – 22:08
9.  Victoria Gately, Curry College – 22:21
10.  Aubrey Conklin, Emerson College – 22:30

http://www.coolrunning.com/results/15/ma/Sep5_Eleven_set1.shtml
http://www.coolrunning.com/results/15/ma/Sep5_Eleven_set2.shtml

— Story provided by Massachusetts Maritime Academy Director of Sports Information Jim Seavey. Edited by Capecod.com Sports Editor Sean Walsh. His email is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @coachwalshccbm