HANOVER, N.H. 9/8/07 - Keene State College senior Brianne Lucey (Keene, NH) began her 2007 cross country season in style by racing to a first place finish at the Dartmouth Invitational in Hanover on Saturday.

A 2006 All-American, Lucey out ran the field crossing the finish line with a time of 19:48 on the 5K course leading the KSC women's cross country team to a third place tie (69 points) with UMass-Amherst in the four team field. U.S. Naval Academy won the meet with a final score of 39 points.

Jennifer Adams (Saratoga Springs, NY) also had a strong performance for the Owls, finishing third with a time of 20:14. Adelle Zocher (Branford, CT) 26th/ 22:17, Katelyn Carr (Scituate, MA) 34th/23:10, and Cassandra Larmand (Lowell, MA) 36th/ 23:36 rounded out KSC's top five finishers.

Junior Jason Garrity (Topsfield, MA) finished 17th (27:08) on the 8K course to pace the Owl men's team to a fifth place (118 points) finish in the seven- team field. Jared Samuel (Londonderry, NH) 26th/27:54, Patrick Craven (North Kingstown, RI) 32nd/28:19, Patrick Davis (Wethersfield, CT) 36th/28:41 and Jeff Goupil (Barrington, NH) 38th/28:47 also scored for the Owls. Expected to be the Owls' front-runner this season, Brock Welch (Merrimack, NH) was fifth through four miles before dropping out of the race

The host Big Green (20 points) took the top three spots, led by Pat Dooley's first place finish (25:52) to capture the men's title.

Keene State is at UMass-Dartmouth next Saturday.