CCSU Hosts NEC Cross Country Championships Saturday
The Central Connecticut men's and women's cross country teams will host the 2021 Northeast Conference Championships on Saturday, October 30, at Stanley Quarter Park in New Britain, CT. The men's 8K race will begin at 11:00 am, followed by th women's 5K race beginning at 12:00 pm. The NEC Cross Country Championships will be streamed on the league's free digital network, www.NECFrontRow.com, this weekend. Northeast Sports Network will produce the event. Dave Popkin and Kevin Rivera have the call.
MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY | CHAMPIONSHIP HQ | LIVE RESULTS/TIMING | COURSE MAP
Junior Eddie Nicholas was named NEC Male Athlete of the Week on Monday after a fourth-place finish at the CCSU Mini Meet last week. It was his second Athlete of the Week award for the season and he will be looking to top his performance last spring, when he finished 5th at the NEC Championsip..
Freshman James Sullivan earned his third Rookie of the Week honor from the NEC this past week. The Connecticut native finished 10th out of 92 runners in the field at the Mini Meet and he will be looking to help CCSU unseat two-time defending NEC Champion Wagner and get the Blue Devils to earn their first team championship since 2017.
WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY | CHAMPIIONSHIP HQ | LIVE RESULTS/TIMING | COURSE MAP
The women are looking to defend the title for a fourth straight season. The Blue Devils are led by senior Angie Rafter, who is four-time NEC Athlete of the Week. She was named USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week, becoming the first Blue Devil to win the award during the fall seasons, and she has won three races this fall. The 2019 NEC individual champion, she was bested by just .1 seconds in last year's championship by her teammate junior Ashley Dana.
Rafter, Dana and the rest of the Blue Devils will be looking to win a fourth-straight NEC Championship this weekend.
Stanley Quarter Park is located less than a mile from the CCSU campus and plays home to the men's and women's cross country teams. The park features ample field space, a park as well as a wooded area that makes for an eventful cross country course. The women's 5K course consists of three loops, two around the Stanley Quarter Park pond and one loop through the wooded area. The men's 8K course consists of three pond loops and two woods loops.
