Cross Country Coaches and Alumni Winning Races of Their Own

Some familiar faces from CCSU's men's and women's cross country and track and field programs had some impressive performances this weekend in both the Hartford and Boston Marathon. Head coach Eric Blake, two assistant coaches with the team and a Blue Devil alumni highlighted a successful weekend of running. 

Saturday's Hartford Marathon was dominated by CCSU. Alex Norstrom, a Blue Devil who graduated in 2019, finished first in the full marathon with a time of 2:20:40. This was Norstrom's first full marathon ran, which makes for a pretty good way to start.

Norstrom is familiar with first place finishes from his time at CCSU. He's won the Ted Owen Invitational, the CCSU Track and Field Invitational and the Black and Gold Invitational, among others.

Assistant cross country coach Tyler Raymond, who was a teammate of Norstrom's, took home first place in the men's half marathon Saturday, finishing with a time of 1:07:22. Also among the field of runners were former CCSU standouts Roberto Piotto (4th, 1:08.54), Matthew Walker (5th, 1:09.05) and Malcolm Connor (9th, 1:11.18).

Annmarie Tuxbury, another assistant coach with the Blue Devils won the women's half marathon with a 1:13:45 time.

After the great outing from Norstrom, Raymond and Tuxbury, the Blue Devils had one runner left to cheer on. Head coach Eric Blake ran in Monday's 125th annual Boston Marathon in the professional men's divison, and brought home to New Britain a top 100 finish among the field of roughly 20,000 runners.

Blake finished the Boston Marathon with a final time of 2:30:17. His performance placed him 8th in his division (40-44 year-old age group), 75th among all male racers and 86th overall. Blake was one of 29 American men running in the elite field, a spot he has certainly earned over the years.

Blake has been a member of eight USATF Mountain Running Teams and is a four-time winner at the Mount Washington Road Race. He set a marathon world record in 2006, running a marathon on the treadmill in 2:21.40.

Megan Jackowitz, nee Jaswell, who ran at CCSU from 2005-08, was Connecticut's top female finisher at 2:54.49. Olivia Mondo, who ran at CCSU in 2017, completed the race in 3:01.19.