Cross Country Sweeps Metropolitan Championship

Women's Results | Men's Results
 
Bronx, N.Y. – (October 7, 2022) – It was a stellar day for the Fordham cross country teams, as for just the second time, both the women's and men's teams won the Metropolitan Cross Country Championship, held at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx.
 
First up was the women's championship race, where the Fordham Rams kicked off their championship season by defending their Metropolitan title with 38 points, followed by St. John's (71), Manhattan (73), Columbia (77), Seton Hall (100), and Saint Peter's (156).  NYU did not have enough runners for a team score.
 
This is Fordham's fourth team title in the last six Metropolitan Championships and marked the first back-to-back team titles for Fordham since winning six in a row from 1987-1992.
 
Individually, Manhattan's Andria Scaglione won the 5K race with a time of 18:52.7, while Fordham's Caroline McDonagh was second in 19:25.6.
 
After McDonagh, the Rams had four other runners finish in the top 11, starting with Madeleine Ryan and Alexandra Thomas, who were seventh (20:16.8) and eighth (20:18.2), respectively, while Nathania Tan (20:25.0) and Taylor Mascetta (20:30.7) were tenth and eleventh, respectively.
 
Other Rams running at the Championship were Helen Connolly (16^th – 20:53.0), Marin Bogulski (17^th – 20:54.6), Clodagh McGroary (23^rd – 21:32.7), Jilli Jones (32^nd – 22:19.1), Sarah Raubenheimer (34^th – 22:23.7), Alexis Smith (36^th – 22:41.7), and Emmy Longmore (38^th – 22:54.9).
 
Next up was the men's championship race with Fordham taking the top spot with 21 points, followed by Manhattan (60), Columbia (64), Seton Hall (100), and Saint Peter's (127).  NYU did not have enough competitors to score.

 
For the Rams, it is the team's fifth title in the last eight Metropolitan Championships.
 
Individually, the Rams kept a unique streak alive, as Fordham's Nathan Bezuneh won the 8K race in a time of 26:35.9, followed by teammate Rodolfo Sanchez in second at 26:39.1.  It marked the eighth consecutive year a Ram has won the race with no repeat winners (Quincy O'Connor – 2014, Jonathan Annelli – 2015, Brian Cook – 2016, Thomas Slattery – 2017, Ryan Kutch – 2018, Nicholas Raefski – 2019, Brandon Hall – 2021).
 
Fordham had four other runners crack the top ten, starting with Christopher Strzelinski in fourth (27:10.9) with Nicolas Grabarz in sixth (27:15.2), Ryan Fahey in eighth (28:04.1), and Ben Borchers in tenth (28:23.0).
 
The Rams had five others compete on Friday with Trevor Rinn in 12^th (28:35.6), Darren Croke in 14^th (28:47.3), Justin Lombardi in 16^th (29:00.1), Matthew Febles in 17^th (29:01.8), and John Arvantides in 25^th (30:21.2).
 
Fordham continues its championship season on Friday, October 14^th, when they take part in the ECAC/IC4A Cross Country Championship at Van Cortlandt Park.  The first race is set for 11:00 AM.