Sept. 8, 2001

New Britain, Conn. - Senior Dave deWolfe finished first and senior Jenny Payne was runner-up at the Central Connecticut Invitational on Saturday in the first meet of the season for the Stony Brook cross country team. As a team, the Seawolves men finished second out of 12 teams and the women placed third of 11.

deWolfe ran the 8000m race in a time of 26:56.5 to win the meet. He ran in the midst of the leading pack of runners until one mile remained. At that point, he broke away and was not challenged for the remainder of the race. Senior captain Mike Thompson was the next-best finisher for the Seawolves, placing fifth with a time of 27:15.9. Junior Jonathan Brims' time of 28:06.1 was good for 11th place. Also competing for the Seawolves were Andrew Gabrelle (20th-place finish, 28:37.2) and Bill Cotter (46th-place finish, 29:48.4).

Holy Cross captured the men's title with Stony Brook and New Haven rounding out the top three teams.

On the women's side, Payne also got off to a great start this season with a runner-up finish in the 5K. Payne ran the race in a time of 18:58.07 to lead the team to third place overall. Freshman Laura Hixson also had an outstanding performance in her collegiate debut, finishing ninth with a time of 19:27.88. Jackie Berman finished 28th with a time of 20:15.27, Patty Gregory was 35th in 20:42.88 and Nicole Marzella was 41st with a time of 23:07.00.

Connecticut won the meet while Holy Cross finished second.

The Seawolves return to competition next Saturday, Sept. 15, when they host the Seawolves Invitational at Sunken Meadow State Park at 10 a.m.