BUZZARDS BAY, Mass – Mass Maritime cross country hosted the 15^th Annual Travis Fuller Invitational on Friday afternoon at the Buzzards Bay recreational area, the beginning of the Cape Cod Canal trail. The race is run annually in honor of Marine 1^st Lt. Travis J. Fuller, a cross country runner and graduate of Mass Maritime who lost his life in a helicopter accident in Iraq in 2005. In the women's 5k, the Buccaneers claimed second place and in the men's 8k, the Bucs took home first place.

The women's race kicked off at 3:30pm with the first runner, Samantha Molinari of Rivier University coming across the finish line 19:31.52 later to claim first place. Two spots behind Molinari was the first Maritime finisher Lily Hakkarainen (Chesterfield, Mass) with a time of 20:06.15. Last year, Hakkarainen won the Fuller Invitational on her 18^th birthday, this year she improved her time in the race with the bronze medal finish. Right behind her was Buccaneer Sarah Smialek (Dartmouth, Mass) with a final time of 22:05.38 to claim fourth place. The final three qualifying spots for the Bucs came across the finish line in seventh, 13^th and 14^th place. Freshman Alyssa Greico (Andover, Mass) finished seventh with a time of 22:18.40, sophomore Camryn Boyce (Whitman, Mass) finished 13^th at 23:57.84 and freshman Sue Bird (Duxbury, Mass) finished 14^th with a time of 24:00.12. The five point earning finishes in the top 15 earned the Buccaneers a second place finish as a team with a combined time of 1:52:48, four second behind the winners, Navy Prep.

In the men's race, the Buccaneers dominated their home course with a top spot finish by senior Daniel Plumb (Hopkinton, Mass) with a time of 28:15.77, and a third place finish by junior Alex Imperillo (Chelmsford, Mass) with a time of 29:29.78. Combine those two finishes with a seventh place finish from Kyle Hansen (North Chelmsford, Mass), an 11^th place finish by freshman Ben Tuttle (Barre, Mass) and a 12^th place finish by senior captain Steven Savoy (West Bridgewater, Mass), the Bucs claimed the Fuller Invitational Championship. The team finished with a combined time of 2:31:43, nine minutes and six seconds better than the second place finishers, Navy Prep, who won the event in 2018.

The Buccaneers are of next week and will pick their schedule back up on October 12^th at Westfield State for the James Early Invitational in Westfield, Mass.