Senior Rebecca Broadbent wins Yankee Small College Championship race
Amherst, MA - On a beautiful fall day at the host site Hampshire College, Vermont Tech senior Rebecca Broadbent (North Dighton, MA) took home her third overall and second consecutive YSCC Championship Race in a personal best 6K time of 23:57. Rebecca took control of the race early and never looked back, finishing 52 seconds ahead of the second place finisher. Rebecca was joined in setting a personal record by teammates Jocy Turinetti in 14th at 30:02 and Haley Allard in 26th at 44:05. When asked about Rebecca, coach Bob Dunkle responded " Rebecca has worked harder than anyone I have coached to be able to accomplish a great career in Collegiate running. I dont' say this to diminish other athletes I have coached over the years. But there is a level of work that is beyond what most runners are willing to put our. I have coached very few over the years that have matched Rebecca in that effort. It has paid off for her in this race, winning her third Conference title in record time this year. I am very excited to see what she can do at USCAA Nationals in a few weeks.
On the men's side, The Vermont Tech men's team ran the best race of the season. According to coach Bob Dunkle "This was probably the best race in several season fror our men's team. They ran in a tight pack with only 1:30 between #1-5 runners. Our average time of 32:13 will come down at least a minute next year with solid training, and the addition of new recruits we have coming in I'd like to see that time come down to uner 30 minutes, which will make us competitive for the conference title next year. All 5 Vermont Tech runners were in a pack for much of the 8K race, with Sophomore Scott Durkee (Chelsea, VT) topping the Vermont Tech pack in 12th place at 31:20. Scott was followed by teammates David Mattern (South Royalton, VT) in 15th at 31:48, Matt Kelly in 16th at 32:20, Michael Dunkle (Tunbridge, VT) in 17th at 32:38, and Jonathan Puffer in 20th at 32:56. The men's team finshed the day in 3rd place overall.
Both teams are training hard to get ready for Nationals, and will travel to Virgina Beach on November 10th for the USCAA National Championship Races.