The men's and women's cross country team showed up ready to run this Saturday. The men's team, ranked No. 15 in Division III, and the women's team, ranked No. 12, both placed within the top five at the 39th annual University of Albany Cross Country Invitational Meet.
The women's team came in fourth place overall out of 23 teams, while the men finished third out of 27.
The men followed behind top-ranked University of New Hampshire, who took the title, New York University who took second and Quinnipiac University. The top spot for the women's event was also won by New Hampshire, while Middlebury College placed second.
The women's great showing was made even sweeter by the fact that they beat out St. Lawrence University, who placed 11th. St. Lawrence cut short the College's championship hopes last year, knocking them off in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) regional meet.
Individually, the Lions' runners made a tremendous showing. Senior leader Jenna Fasulo placed 19th overall with a time of 18:27.0, and junior Kristen Pogorzelski took 20th place in 18:28.2.
Senior Kara Horner walked away with 25th in 18:40:1, and freshman Martine McGrath took 26th in 18:41.4.
There were no letdowns among the men either, as they also had a stellar performance. Sophomore Brian Kopnicki led in 13th place with a time of 25:23.1 and freshman Chris Guerriero took 24th in 25:45.8.
Senior Jeff Zodda, junior Greg Howe and sophomore Kyle Alpaugh took 34th, 35th, and 36th place respectively, with times of 25:53.5, 25:54.5 and 25:55.3.
Also, sophomore Galen Johnson took 52nd place in 26:14.8, and senior Matt Randal's time of 26:18.0 landed him at 55th.
Also for the women, senior Sarah Spilman took 31st with her time of 18:51.4, junior Allyson Krayl came in at 54th place in 19:17.8, and finally junior Jenna Prendergast grabbed 61st place in 19:26.9.
First-year head coach Phil Jennings said he saw a lot of improvement Saturday. Although he felt a few of his male runners had the potential to do much better, he said, "A couple guys really stepped up."
The Lions look to improve upon this at the Haverford College Invitational next Friday.
