Posted: Sep 13, 2014

Men's Cross Country runs at SVC Invitational

Bennington, VT- The MCLA Men's Cross Country team ran this afternoon at the Southern Vermont Invitational. The Trailblazers finished in 7th place as Brendan Peltier crossed the line first for MCLA.

Drew Weisse was the second Trailblazer across, while Michael McAndew was the third MCLA finisher.

The Southern Vermont men's crew ran extremely well on its home course, having four finishers place in the top 10 and almost sweeping the top three spots. Canta was followed by teammate and sophomore Justin Ferguson (Broadalbin, New York) who was second at 17:12, and Castleton freshman Grandon Smith (Newtown, Connecticut) placed third overall, coming through at 17:55. SVC freshman Marc Brandmeyer (Bennington, Vermont) made a strong push for third but was off by just one second, finishing fourth with a time of 17:56.

Castleton junior Ben Girard (Manchester, Massachusetts) rounded out the top five at 17:59.

The Mountaineers took the men's race with a total of 31 points with help from their pack leaders. Castleton State took second place as a team with 50 points, and Mount Saint Mary captured third with 78 points on the day; the Knights were led by sophomore Christopher DelVecchio (North Haven, Connecticut) who crossed sixth overall with a time of 18:03.

There were a total of 65 women and 64 men compete on the 5000 meter course in one of the bigger meets Southern Vermont has hosted. The men's race was a shorter, non-traditional 5K with the hopes of easing strain on legs in the early portion of the season, especially considering the tough inclines that challenged the runners.