ORONO, Maine -- The University of Maine cross country teams open the 2018 season by hosting Army West Point on Friday, Aug. 31. The women will kick off the dual meet at 2:30, followed by the men's race at 3:15 p.m.
Mark Lech enters his 14th season as the head cross country coach in 2018. Last season, the men's cross country squad finished fifth at the America East Conference Meet, while the women took seventh.
Maine returns senior
Aaron Willingham on the men's side, who capped his season with a first team all-conference finish at America Easts, finishing fifth overall. Last season against Army West Point, the Farmington, Maine native took third place, with a time of 25:24.3. He totaled top-15 finishes in five of the six races, including a first-place performance in a dual-meet against New Hampshire (25:54).
John Hassett,
Daniel Lesko, Collin Tardiff, and
Jacob Terry also return from last year's squad. Maine welcomes four freshmen to the team in
Abbas Muktar,
Travis Nickerson,
James Oliver, and
Caleb Thurston.
Cooper Nelson and
Ethan Orach join the team after competing for the UMaine track and field team last season.
For the women's side, Maine is returning 13 runners from the 2017 roster, including
Haley Lawrence,
Emma Jourdain,
Faith Gardner and
Hope Gardner. Lawrence was one of the top runners from the UMaine women's team a season ago, taking first against New Hampshire (19:09.0) in a dual meet. Other highlights of her 2017 season include taking fourth against Army West Point (19:02.1) and finishing as the second-best Black Bear at the America East Championships (26
th, 18:36.0).
Newcomers to the 2018 squad include,
Morgan Griffin,
Margaret McCarthy,
Haley Michienzi, and
Kaylee Porter.
Following the dual meet, the Black Bears return to action on Sept. 8, when Maine takes on the Sanchez Southern Invitational on the campus of Dartmouth College.
-UMaine-
