By Cynthia Retamozo

The Huskies battled heat and dust Saturday at Franklin Park for the New England Championship, where the men’s and women’s teams placed 19th and 30th, respectively, out of 44 competing schools.

Besides the 80 degree heat, the women’s team also faced key runner absences. Juniors Kristie Gagnon and Brittany Moriarty both sat due to injuries.

These adversities, however, gave freshmen a chance to show their potential. Freshman Annie Scully led the women’s pack, placing 34th out of 299 runners in 19:10 seconds in the 5K race. In 98th and 116th came freshmen Jill Buck (19:58) and Seri Gordon (20:13), respectively. Junior Laura McCloskey came in 126th (20:19) with sophomore Maura Carten in 154th (20:34).

“It was a good race,” said cross country coach and coordinator Renny Waldron. “It was also a very hot day. The heat made them about 40 seconds slower than they would have ran on a good day.”

For the men’s 8K race, senior Tom Brown led the pack, finishing in 106th out of 291 runners 26:54 seconds. Stepping up was freshman Andy Cazeau, who placed 126th in a personal best of 27:13 seconds. In 160th and 161st was sophomore Josh Boss and junior Bryan Brunelli, both of whom finished in 27:52 seconds.

The Huskies travel to the Albany Invitational Saturday, starting at 10 a.m.