Seniors say goodbye as cross-country season comes to a close in Regional Championship

The Seton Hall men’s and women’s cross-country teams competed in the 2017 Eastern Collegiate Athletic Championship which took place in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, N.Y. The meet represented the last competition for both teams of the season, and the final race in the careers of several Pirate runners. The women’s team finished with a total time of 1:38:12.30, two seconds ahead of New Jersey rivals Monmouth. The time was good enough to give the Pirates a 17^th place finish in a field of 25 teams from across the northeast. Seton Hall was once again led by junior Christiana Rutkowski who crossed the finish line in 18:31.1, taking 27^th place among 210 runners. [caption id="attachment_20777" align="aligncenter" width="838"] Photo via SHU Athletics[/caption] The only other runner to finish in the top 100 for the Seton Hall women was freshman Olivia Hernandez, who finished in 93^rd with a time of 19:34.1. Seniors Emily Johnson and Bailey Seach, competing in their final race, finished in 134^th and 200^th place. The team’s average time was 19:38.46. On the men’s side, the Pirates competed in a similar 25 team field, also taking home 17^th place. The Pirates finished the 5-mile race in an average of 27:09.90, with Jarod Moser leading the Pirates as the junior finished in 60^th place. Jake Simon, another senior competing in his final event, took 76^th place with a time of 26:48.6. Fellow senior Bryant Cordova finished with a time of 27:14.7, rounding out the top 100 finishers. The other two senior runners for the men were Jeff Larson and Louis Bustamante. Larson took home 153^rd place, while Bustamante finished in 193^rd. Both teams will lose veterans as the men’s team will see four seniors depart, whereas the women’s team will say goodbye to their two seniors mentioned earlier. Still, the program will look to build on the successes of this season next year as the top runner for both the women’s and men’s team from this meet will return for 2018. Robert Musantry can be reached at robert.musantry@student.shu.edu or on Twitter @rfmusantry.