WESTFIELD, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State Men's cross country team claimed the 2022 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) team championship as the Bears edged host Westfield State University on Saturday afternoon at Stanley Park.
Bridgewater State captured the team title with 42 points followed by Westfield State (46 pts.) in second place and Fitchburg State University (74 pts.) in third.
The Bears earned their first championship since 2019 and eighth in program history. Bridgewater State also won the title in 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2010 and 2012.
BSU junior Conner Mackie (Ramstein-Miesembach, Germany), freshman Braden Boucher (Lowell, Mass.) and junior Sam Steere (West Kingston, Mass) garnered All-MASCAC honors for the Bears. Mackey covered the eight-kilometer course in a career-best time of 27:47.41, while Boucher placed sixth with a career-best time of 27:51.04. Steere crossed the finish line in a season-best time of 27:55.82 to place eighth overall.
Both Mackie and Boucher cracked the 28-minute mark for an 8K course for the first time in their respective careers.
The Bears had three runners place in the top ten and eight in the top 20. Freshmen Kyle Ackroyd (Charlestown, R.I.), Alexavier Almeida (North Attleboro, Mass.) and Mitchell Parent (Cumberland, Maine), sophomore Kenny Goodwin (Chelmsford, Mass.) and senior Ryan Goldman (Franklin, Mass.) rounded out Bridgewater State's top 20 harriers. Almeida (28:11.52) and Goodwin (28:39.71) each recorded season-best times.
Boucher was the top rookie runner at the meet as he earned MASCAC Rookie of the Year honors. Steere earned All-MASCAC accolades for the second straight season.
The top-five scoring positions for the Bears were only 25 seconds apart, which went a long way in helping the team capture the conference title. Only four points separated first and second place in the team competition.
"We are very proud of both squads today," said Head Coach Christine Kloiber. "We came into the meet knowing we had not yet achieved our potential and really emphasized within the past couple of weeks what our focus needed to be. Both the men and women did a phenomenal job of executing their race plans, working together with their teams and staying calm under pressure. Coach (John) O'Leary and I know each athlete walked away having given everything that they could and so each success, whether it was a personal best, high-scoring position or the men's championship overall, belongs to each and every person who was on the team today."
Sophomore Taban Manyok (Lynn, Mass.) of Fitchburg State captured his second straight MASCAC individual title as he outdistance the field by over a minute with a time of 26:14.11.
Following a week off, the BSU cross country teams will compete at the New England Division III Championships hosted by Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine on Saturday, November 12th.