Delbene and Raymond Earn NEC Honors
Junior Colby Delbene earned the NEC Athlete of the Week award and freshman Tyler Raymond picked up NEC Rookie of the Week.
The Central Connecticut men's cross country team picked up a pair of Northeast Conference weekly awards, the league announced Wednesday. Junior Colby Delbene, who finished first in the CCSU Mini Meet on Friday, Oct. 19, earned NEC Athlete of the Week and freshman Tyler Raymond was tabbed NEC Rookie of the Week.
Delbene got off to an early lead in the CCSU Mini Meet. He paced all 115 runners for the duration of the meet to take first place overall. He crossed the 5K finish line 11 seconds before his nearest competitor with a time of 15:22.61.
Raymond finished under a minute behind Delbene and was the first NEC freshman to cross the finish line. He finished in 23rd place and was third to cross the line for the Blue Devils. The freshman completed the 5K in 16:12.32. Raymond comes to CCSU from Terryville High School in Terryville, CT where he was named Most Valuable Player for cross country and track. He also earned the Coaches Award and was named All-Berkshire League and Berkshire League All-Star.
Both Delbene's and Raymond's performances were key to the success of the Blue Devils this week. Central grabbed the second-place spot in Friday's meet, the highest team place of all participating NEC teams.
Delbene, Raymond and the rest of the Blue Devils return to action on Saturday, Oct. 27 for the NEC Championships in Smithfield, RI. The defending NEC Champions look to repeat last year's conference victory.