Gisore, Smith both in top 35

BOSTON (October 11, 2014) – Senior Antoine Gisore (Concord, N.H.) ran an 8K time of 24:51.9 to finish 12th and earn All-New England honors on Saturday for the Franklin Pierce University men's cross country team at the NEICAAA Championships in Franklin Park. The Ravens finished with 354 points and placed 14th out of 29 teams at the meet and were the top finisher among Division II squads.

Gisore, who has previously put together All-New England performances in track & field, becomes the first Raven to earn All-New England honors in cross country. He was one of two Franklin Pierce runners to place in the top-50 of the 262-athlete field, as sophomore B.J. Smith (Concord, N.H.) placed 35th, with a time of 25:12.8.

Junior Colton Ham (Webster, N.H.) was able to join Gisore and Smith in the top-100, as he finished 68th by stopping the clock at 25:28.3. Rounding out Franklin Pierce's scoring five at New Englands were sophomore Jon Holmes (Albany, N.Y.) in 103rd (25:47.8) and junior Makopa Rugabirwa (Concord, N.H.) in 136th (26:06.6). Sophomore Dage Minors (Hamilton Parish, Bermuda) and freshman Luke Thresher (Coventry, Conn.) rounded out the Ravens' participation in the event by finishing 163rd (26:16.8) and 166th (26:22.7), respectively.

Franklin Pierce finished 38 points in front of fellow Northeast-10 Conference member American International (16th, 392 points) to rank as the best-scoring Division II squad in attendance. No other Northeast-10 member cracked the top-25 positions on Saturday.

At the top of the field, Providence and Brown finished with 72 points each, and the two schools' total times were only one-tenth of a second apart. Providence finished first, by virtue of having the higher individual finish of the two. Behind the Friars and Bears, New Hampshire in third (148 points), Dartmouth in fourth (160) and Boston Univ. in fifth (182) rounded out the top-five teams.

Individually, AIC's Mike Biwott, who won last week at the Paul Short Run as well, finished first (24:10.8), over 20 seconds in front of Julian Oakley of Providence, who finished second (24:34.4). The remainder of the top-five finishers were Jordan Mann of Brown in third (24:39.2), Jon Prizzi of New Hampshire in fourth (24:41.8) and Zachary Fraielli of Northeastern in fifth (24:43.4).

The Ravens are back in action on Saturday, Oct. 18, when they host the Gates Farm Northeast-10 Preview Meet in Rindge.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce cross country apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store).