Women Third, Men Fifth In Cross-Country Opener

PLATTSBURGH — Crista Szymanski finished 15th and Phil Goodwin was 18th to help SUNY New Paltz place third and fifth, respectively, in the team standings at the Plattsburgh Cardinal Cross-Country Classic on Saturday afternoon.

Rebecca Demeri (22:45) finished just behind Szymanski (22:44) in 16th place, while Cheryl Yanek (19th, 22:48), Kristi Markwalter (22nd, 22:56), Alison Tracy (23rd, 23:00), Dawson Gerhardt (25th, 23:05) and Lauren Corvino (26th, 23:07) also finished for the Hawks.

Plattsburgh’s Kelly Duffy (19:21) won the women’s race to help lead the Cardinals (20 points) to the team title.

On the men’s side, Matt Brown (24:09) finished just behind Goodwin (24:02) in 19th place, while Justin Lee was 29th (24:36), Corey Crawford was 30th (24:41) and the Hawks’ Greg Sautner (31st, 24:45), Garrett Beers (32nd, 24:45), Daniel Holton (33rd, 24:45) and Chris Tuttle (34th, 24:46) all finished virtually at the same time. Other finishers for New Paltz were John Montesano (48th, 26:30), John Zarella (49th, 26:37), Kevin Harrison (50th, 26:47), Matt Gabriel (51st, 26:53) and Tom Lamontanaro (58th, 27:52).

Lyndon State’s Randy Feeley won the men’s race in 22:08, while Plattsburgh (55 points) took the team title. Also, 1995 Plattsburgh graduate and New Paltz Head Coach Brett Willmott – currently on a 20-month leave of absence to train the U.S. Skeleton Team for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games – finished in 24:53.

New Paltz will be at the St. Michaels (Vt.) Invitational at 11 a.m. next Saturday.