Cross Country Has Banner Day at Metropolitan Championship

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It was a banner day for the Fordham cross country team on Friday, as the squad hosted the 2014 Metropolitan Cross Country Championship at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx.  The Rams captured their first men's cross country title since 1964, while the women posted a second place finish, marking their best finish at the Championship since the early 1990's.
 
"I am so proud of what the team did today.  It was just a great performance," said head coach Tom Dewey.
 
The women's 5K race kicked things off with Rutgers ending the 11-year reign of Columbia as the Metropolitan team champion.  Rutgers scored 23 points, followed by Fordham (75), Wagner (135), NYU (139), and Columbia (139) to round out the top five.  There were 12 teams in total in the women's competition.

 

The Scarlet Knights had three of the top four runners, led by Paige Senatore, who won the race with a time of 18:19.4.  Fordham's Brianna Tevnan came in second place with a time of 18:28.7, marking the highest finisher for the Rams since Lauren Gubicza won the Metropolitan title in the early 90's.
 
Overall, the Rams had six runners in the top 25.  Mara Lieberman was the next Fordham runner across the line in 16^th place in 19:17.9, followed by Ariana Bottalico, who scored 18^th (19:24.6). Sarah Glockenmeier, who scored 19^th (19:26.2), Brynna Harum, who scored 20^th (19:29.3), and Brianne Roche, who was 25^th overall (19:37.4), rounded out the top 25 finishers.
 
Other Rams competing on Friday included Shea Williams (28^th - 19:46.9), Melissa Higgins (30^th – 19:47.3), Stephanie Leo (39^th – 20:13.3), Danielle Drummond (55^th – 20:40.4), Tara Cangialosi (56^th – 20:41.7), Melanie Notarstefano (57^th – 20:42.4), Georgeanne Siller (60^th – 20:48.2), Cristina Ulto (77^th – 21:55.4), and Josephine Jacob-Dolan (97^th – 23:28.4).
 
"The coaching staff believed the women's team could do this. It was just a matter of getting them to believe and they showed it big time today," said Dewey.
 
Then, the Fordham men's team took center stage, as the Rams won their first Metropolitan cross country title in over 50 years.  The Rams scored 26 points, followed by NYU (75), who had won the last two Metropolitan titles, Columbia (79), Rutgers (109), and Manhattan (121).  There were ten complete teams that finished the five-mile course.
 
"Today showed just how deep this team is, and it was an outstanding performance to start off the championship part of our season," said Dewey.
 
Fordham had five finishers in the top 15, led by a 1-2-3 finish by Quincy O'Connor (25:51.3), Mike Turi (26:12.9), and Thomas Slattery (26:15.7).  O'Connor became just the second Ram to win the individual crown, joining Julian Saad in 2011.
 

Nik O'Brien was the next Ram across the line in seventh place (26:41.9), followed by Louis Santelli in 13^th (26:54), Brian Cook in 18^th (27:04.4), and Jake Duckworth in 24^th (27:18.2).
 
Other Fordham runners on Friday included Michael Campbell (52^nd – 28:21.4), Daniel Green (62^nd – 28:36.6), William Slattery (65^th – 28:49.4), Michael Vecchio (73^rd - 28:58.3), Daniel Kheininson (79^th – 29:07.3), and Cornell Overfield (88^th – 29:56.1).
 
The Fordham cross country team will next be in action on Saturday, October 18^th, when the Rams compete at the Princeton Invitational in New Jersey.