Men and women’s cross country had solid performances from underclassmen leading the Hall to second place finishes at the ASICS Embry-Riddle Classic.
Shupirates.com
For the third time this season, the men’s cross country team finished in the top two at an event. The Pirates were led this time by sophomore Victor Ricci who topped a group of five Hall runners who finished in the top 20. Men’s cross country opened the season with a second place finish at the Monmouth XC Kick-off on Aug. 30, and recorded a first place finish the following weekend on Sept. 7 at the Hofstra/St. John’s Fall Festival.
Ricci finished with a time of 27:42:81, which gave him his second scoring time of the season and an 11th place finish.
Freshmen Jacob Simon, seniors Kevin and John Walsh and junior Ryan Flannery rounded out the top five finishers for the Pirates.
Flannery scored for the first time this season and his 19th place brought the Hall point total to 73, which was second only behind the hosts Embry-Riddle.
On the women’s side, the theme of solid running from the underclassmen continued as the Pirates were led by freshman Christina Rutkowski. The Middletown, New Jersey-native’s stellar first year with the Hall continued as she was the top collegiate finisher at the event with a time of 19:08:55.
The women’s team also had five runners finish in the top 20 overall. Junior Amanda Qualia, sophomore Desyre Blackburn, senior Mary Migton and freshman Bailey Seach rounded out the top five for the women’s team.
These five Pirates, in the events they have ran in together, have tallied all of their teams’ points. To say the least, they have been relied on heavily for the blue and white.
Both the men’s and women’s have had solid starts to the season. Together they have taken home two first place finishes, four second place finishes and two third place finishes.
The Pirates have a lengthy break before the Metropolitan Championships in the Bronx, New York on Oct. 10. The meet is scheduled to start at 2:00 p.m.
Sean Saint Jacques can be reached at sean.saintjacques@student.shu.edu or on twitter @SSaintj7.
