LeDuc 3rd in New England; two personal bests for Powell

CANTON, March 16 — Connecticut College freshman Mike LeDuc, who earned All New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) honors in cross country in the fall, recently finished third in the 5,000 meters at the New England Division III championships in Springfield. LeDuc ran the 3.1-mile race in 15:18.31. A few days later, he finished 11th in New England with a personal best time of 14:57 racing against athletes from Division I, II and III schools. It’s the fourth fastest 5,000 time in Conn College history.

Senior Nate Bussiere of Carnegie Mellon won the 1 mile in 4:20.19 at a recent meet in Pennsylvania. The Canton High graduate is a senior on the men’s track team. Bussiere finished in the indoor season strong. He ran a personal-best time of 1:55.31 in the 800 meters, just 0.06 seconds off the school record set by Gary Harrison in 1990 and only 0.04 of a second off the NCAA provisional qualifying time of 1:54.90. At the UAA indoor championship meet, Bussiere anchored Carnegie Mellon’s distance medley team that finished second. He also took second in the mile and anchored the Tartans’ 4×400 team that finished third.

Senior Kim Powell ran a personal-best of 17:48 in the 5,000 meters and another personal best in the 3,000 meters of 10:19 to help Dickinson College finish fifth at the recent Centennial Conference indoor track and field championships. She was fifth in the 5,000 and fourth in the 3,000.

Freshman Melissa Parente is playing Division I softball with the University of Rhode Island. She is still looking for her first hit. She is 0-for-11 with 7 strikeouts in six games for the Rams (1-12).