Fitchburg State Off To Strong Start At Tuft’s Jumbo Invite

 Jarvis leads women to an 8th finish while McCormack earns the men a 5th place showing

MEDFORD, Mass. (September 13, 2008) - The Fitchburg State men's and women's cross country turned in a solid performance this afternoon at the Grafton Farm Course hosted by Tufts University. The men's team finished with a 5^th place finish out of ten teams while the women ended with an 8^th place finish.

Senior captain Phil McCormack (Fitchburg, Mass./Fitchburg) led the men's team, placing 26^th overall out of 84 runners with a time of 28:52, while freshman Chris Kibler (Bath, Maine/Morse) and senior Keon Valcourt (Brockton, Mass./Brockton) finished 31^st and 32^nd with time of 29:12 and 29:28 respectively. Junior Kyle Schaeffer (Hudson, Mass./Hudson) registered a solid run with a time of 29:41.

Junior Stephanie Jarvis (Hopedale, Mass./Hopedale) led the Fitchburg State women's team, placing 79^th out of 115 runners with a time of 23:29. Newcomer Katelyn Page (Beverly, Mass./Beverly) followed Jarvis with an 80^th place finish and a time of 23:39, while sophomore Linda Furtado (Feeding Hills, Mass./Agawam) and senior Emily Sullivan (Billerica, Mass./Billerica) completed the race with times of 26:06 and 26:33 respectively.

Fitchburg State will be in action again on Saturday as it travels to UMass Dartmouth for the UMass Dartmouth Invitational at 10:30 a.m.