The Fighting Scots hosted their annual Pop Crowell Invitational today, welcoming hundreds of runners and spectators to campus for the premier event of the Scots' regular season.

On the men's side, Andrew Kwiatkowski (So./Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) and Dwight Huseland (Fr./Lebanon, N.J.), in just his second 8k ever, posted the top times for the Scots on the day, finishing the course neck and neck in 30:10. Not far behind was Brad McCollester (Fr./West Chester, Pa.), who finished in the middle of the pack with a 31:11 result. Said Coach Andy Shaw, "The men gave a great effort today, even after taking a big hit when top runner Levi Miller twisted his ankle and was unable to finish. With only one speed workout so far, the men look to improve significantly over the weeks to come."

For the women, Emily Urquhart (Fr./White River Junction, Vt.) lead the way for Gordon, placing 25 in a field of 270 runners with a 20:15 time on the home 5k course. Teammates Kelcy Rich (Sr./Hudson, Mass.) and Katie Hakanson-Stacy (Jr./East Longmeadow, Mass.) were just a few seconds back, placing 30th (20:24) and 32nd (20:26), respectively. The marks from Hakason-Stacy bester her numbers from last year's Pop Crowell by 44 seconds and helped shorten the gap between the top three women down to 11 seconds. Allison Lynch (Sr./Holliston, Mass.) also showed well for the Scots, who as a team claimed a respectable sixth place out of the 26 participating teams. "The women moved up four sports from last year with a great overall team effort," said Coach Shaw. "The course was not in the fastest condition due to recent weather, but all of the top five women ran as fast or faster than the top five from last year. There is a lot of potential among this women's team and in the next few weeks I expect they will take some great strides forward."

The Scots will take to the trails again next Saturday, October 8 in Gordon's Homecoming race.

For full results from today's race visit Cool Running.