The Seton Hall men's and women's cross country teams continued their impressive start to the 2013 season over the weekend at the Delaware Invitational. The men's team took second place for the third week in a row, and the women took fourth place.
A new group of runners led the men -- freshmen Cameron Quisenberry and Victor Ricci, and sophomore Ryan Flannery. Ricci was the top Pirate for the third straight week with his 8K time of 27:09.13. He was followed by sophomore Ryan Flan- nery, who finished with a personal-record time of 27:46.65.
Quisenberry finished third best for the Pirates with a time of 27:54.20. Ricci, Flannery and Quisenberry have finished in the top three for the Pirates in all three meets so far.
Head coach John Moon said that the new runners bring an important attitude to the team.
"These guys are really competitive," Moon said. "They can care less who they are running against and their attitude is just fantastic. We're holding our own."
The men finished with 50 points overall and ran well against Princeton in Saturday's invitational. Princeton is ranked 10th in country.
"We ran well against them," Moon said. "We ran with them, and my athletes are pretty excited about that."
The women also have been running well so far with a group of runners consistently leading the team.
Senior Nyala Eddings and junior Mary Migton led the race for the Pirates, finishing in first and second for the team. Eddings finished with a time of 23:40.07 and was followed by team captain Migton who finished with a time of 23:47.27.
Both Eddings and Migton finished in the top-30 of Division I runners at the meet.
Freshmen Desyre Blackburn scored in the top three for the third straight week, finishing with a time of 25:03.49.
Blackburn, Eddigns and Migton scored in the top three in all meets for the 2013 season thus far.
Moon said he thinks the women are running well together.
"My women are running as a team and running together instead of as individuals," Moon said. "And I think that attitude is carrying us forward. They're at practice before I get there, they're excited."
Both teams will return to the track in Princess Anne, Md., to compete in the UMES Cappy Anderson invitational on Saturday, Sept. 21.
Courtney Hnasko can be reached at courtney.hnasko@ student.shu.edu
