POUGHKEEPSIE, NY — The men’s and women’s cross country teams made their annual journey over the river to Poughkeepsie on Saturday to face perennial rivals Vassar at the annual Vassar Invitational. There were fourteen teams represented on the women’s side and eleven on the men’s. The level of competition at this years’ event improved significantly with the addition of Scranton, St. Rose, and the USMMA. Conditions at this years’ race were oppressively hot and humid with the temperature up in the 90’s at the start of the first race at 12 pm. A number of runners in the men’s 8k race were unable to finish due to heat exhaustion and were taken to local area hospitals.
The women put together an outstanding team performance lead by freshman Danielle Harmon (Pearl River). Harmon placed ninth overall in 20:36 on a tough 5k course in extremely hot and humid conditions. Harmon was followed by junior Stephanie Albinski (17), first year Olga Stulov (18), sophomore Lisa Cassaro (19) and rounding out the top five was first year Shannon Wunderlich (37). The women placed fourth overall with 100 pts. finishing behind very tough competition in Stevens College 95 points, College of St. Rose 86 points, and Vassar College with 63 points. Finishing behind New Paltz were: Scranton, Nyack, NYU, Bard, FDU-Florham, Purchase, Lehman, Mt St. Vincent, HVCC and Manhattanville.
On the men’s side, the team was lead by sophomore Alex Colucci (Stony Brook). Colucci placed 23rd in a time of 31:27, a two minute improvement over last years result. Alex was followed by sophomore Nick Avello (25) in 31:35, a 15 second improvement over last year. Classmate Tim Ivancic (32) finished in 32:54, improving three minutes from a year ago. Last seasons MVP, Robert Grazier, stepped in a pot hole and twisted his ankle but managed to hobble across the finish line in 33rd position and rounding out the top five was first year Daniel Caruso (58). The men’s team placed 8th out of 11 missing 7th place, Bard, by one point.
“The first meet of the season is an early chance for Coaches to determine fitness levels for individual athletes in race conditions. Most teams at this point of the year are not resting their athletes and will train through these pre-championship season meets. New Paltz faired well in extremely tough conditions and successfully executed their pre-race plans. Both teams should continue to show improvement throughout the season,¿ stated Head Coach Michael Trunkes.
