Last week, on Saturday, Sept. 30, both the women’s and men’s Judges cross-country teams traveled to Keene, New Hampshire to participate in the Keene State Invitational. In the races, hosted by Keene State College, the women’s team placed second out of 24 teams while the men’s team placed third.

In the women’s five-kilometer (5K) race, three runners from the Judges were able to reach the top 15 out of 183 participants. Zada Forde ’25 finished first for the Judges and seventh overall with a time of 19:13.1. This was an outdoor 5K personal record (PR) for Forde and a 13-second improvement from her time at this race last year. In her first Keene race, Ella Warkentine ’26 finished second for the Judges and 12th overall with a time of 19:22.5. Third and fourth for the Judges were Juliette Intrieri ’24 and captain Lizzy Reynolds ’24, who came in 15th and 24th overall with times of 19:31.8 and 19:52.9 respectively. Sadie Harrow ’27 finished fifth for the Judges and 25th overall, tailing Reynolds with a time of 19:53.5.

Overall, the Judges finished with a score of 83 points and were able to keep a tight spread of 40 seconds across their top five runners in this race, earning them second place. First-place Wellesley had a 35-second spread between their top five and a total of 80 points, while third place and host Keene State finished with a score of 110 points.

In the men’s eight-kilometer (8K) race, captain Willem Goff ’24 reached first place for the Judges and 14th place overall with a time of 26:28.8 in his last Keene race. Close behind was Henry Nguyen ’25, second place for the Judges and 15th overall with a time of 26:32.2—a 55-second improvement from the runner’s performance at last year’s race. Continuing the chain, third place for the Judges and 16th overall was Lucas Dia ’25 with a time of 26:37.8. Fourth and fifth for the Judges were TJ Carleo ’26 and Rob King ’26 respectively. Carleo was 18th overall with a time of 26:42.6 while King finished with a time of 27:14.0.

Overall, the Judges ended the race with a score of 98 points and a 46-second spread across their top five runners. Scoring above them were Plymouth State with 59 points and Assumption University with 68 points.

The Judges will travel next to Connecticut College on Oct. 14.

Editor’s note: Sports editor Calli Morvay ’26 did not contribute to the writing or editing of this article.