Gordon Cross Country kicked off its 2014 campaign at the Mayflower Invitational hosted by New England College on Friday, August 29, with the women finishing third behind Salve Regina and Colby-Sawyer in the 10-team event and the men grabbing sixth behind top finishers Babson, Colby-Sawyer, Norwich, Salve Regina, and host NEC.

Leading the way for the women was Salve Regina's Amy Irving who finished first for the second straight year, running the 5K race in a time of 20:00. Irving was followed closely by fellow Seahawks Aubrey Palmquist at 20:10 and Victoria Varone who finished in 20:14. NEC's Abby Shafer grabbed the fourth spot at 20:23 and Colby-Sawyer teammates Emily Lopez and Kylee Parker clocked in next with times of 20:29 and 20:37.

The Scots received impressive effort from a pair of rookie runners, Kelsey Mann and Louisa Dodds, who finished 16^th and 18^th with 21:21 and 21:29 results, respectively, to pace Gordon's third-place overall finish. Rounding out the runners in the top 25 for Gordon were sophomores Emma Gray in 20^th with a 21:33 and Mariah Geiger in 23^rd at 21:38.

In the men's 5K, the Colby-Sawyer duo of Hayden Bunnell and Benjamin Bunnell took first and second place as Hayden turned in a 16:17 followed closely by Benjamin at 16:19. Babson's Mark Gulesian notched the third place spot with a 16:41, while Colby-Sawyer's Brandon Legendre came in fourth at 16:57.

For Gordon, freshman Damon Kilgore shared ninth overall with Jarrett Cavanaugh of Norwich with a 17:21, while junior Nathan Swaim was just 18 seconds off Kilgore's mark with a 17^th-place 17:39 and junior teammate Wes Nelson turned in an 18:02 for 24^th in the 138-runner field.

The Scots have a two-week layoff from competition before hitting the trails at the University of New England Invitational in Biddeford, Maine on Saturday, September 13. Race time is set for 10:45 a.m.

To see full race results from the Mayflower Invitational click here.
 

Women's Team Results Salve Regina University Colby-Sawyer College Gordon College Norwich University Babson College New England College Castleton State College Thomas College Maine Maritime Academy Bay Path College

Men's Team Results Babson College Colby-Sawyer College Norwich University Salve Regina University New England College Gordon College Maine Maritime Academy Castleton State College Thomas College Newbury College

Portions of release courtesy of NEC sports information.