CROSS COUNTRY NOTEBOOK
The Vermont Catamounts cross country program begins the 2019 campaign Saturday (Sept. 7) with a home meet at Hard'Ack Recreation Area in St. Albans.
 
UVM hosts America East foe UMass Lowell in the meet that kicks off with the women's 5k race at 12 p.m., followed by the men's 8k at 12:45 p.m.
 
RELATED LINKS
Men's Live Results | Women's Live Results
2019 Roster | 2019 Schedule
 
COACH'S QUOTE
"We are very excited to begin the season up the road in St. Albans on Saturday," said head coach Matt Belfield. "Our men and women came back from the summer break well-prepared for the demands of a very competitive schedule. We have just finished three weeks of quality training to transition to racing, and I expect we will stack up well against strong Lowell teams."
 
SCOUTING THE RIVER HAWKS
The UMass Lowell men's cross country team begins the season as the defending America East champions. They lose last year's overall champion Paul Hogan, but return juniors Benjamin Drezek and Derek Holmes who both were named to the All-Conference First Team.
 
The women finished fourth in the conference championship a season ago, behind the third-place Catamounts. Kaley Richards returns for her senior season after earning All-Conference First Team honors last year with a fifth-place overall finish in the championship.
 
2019 CAPTAINS | Release
Seniors John Benner, Neville Caulfield, and Luke Petela were named captains for the men's team. Graduate student Autumn Albrecht, senior Toni Rabasco, and junior Caroline O'Shea will serve as captains for the women's squad. Read more about the Catamounts' leadership group in the full release here.
 
2019 SEASON AT A GLANCE
The Catamounts will make their way to five of the same meets as the 2018 season. They travel to Chestnut Hill for the Coast-to-Coast Battle in Beantown, hosted by the Boston College Eagles on Friday, Sept. 20. The Vermont men will hit the trails at Middlebury College for the Aldrich Invitational the following day. The Cats partake in two meets in the month of October, beginning with the Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh University on Oct. 5. Vermont hosts the Fall Foliage Invitational in a return to Hard'Ack Recreation Area on Oct. 19 before November's America East Championships and the NCAA Northeast Regionals.
 
2018 SEASON RECAP
The UVM men and women opened up the season with victories over UMass Lowell and UAlbany at Hard'Ack Recreation Area. A week later, the women took second place at the Minuteman Invite, which saw Caroline O'Shea and Konstanze Wendeln earn the top two spots, respectively. They also finished second at the Stampede Invite in Buffalo. The men and women locked up their second wins of the season at the Vermont Fall Foliage Invite before heading to the conference championships.
 
The women finished third at the America East Championships, while the men took fourth place. Lauren Trumble earned All-Conference First Team Honors while Annemarie Martell, Maggie Hallahan, and Samantha Sayer were named to the Second Team. John Benner was the lone All-Conference recipient for the men.
 
After the conference championships, the Catamounts men made history in the NCAA Northeast Regional when they recorded their highest finish yet. Benner's 39th overall finish was the highest by a Vermont man in the last decade, as he guided the Cats to a 13th-place finish.