The Lions placed in the top-10 teams at the Inter-Regional Rumble on Saturday, Oct. 17 at Oberlin College. The women’s cross country team gained a total of 220 points, placing seventh out of the 25 teams who competed. The men’s team took 10th place, with 284 points, with six runners taking spots in the top 100 runners. There were 245 male runners competing.
“This was a big meet for us,” said freshman Cathy Goncalves. “Only the top eight go and, as a freshman, I was happy to be a part of such a great experience.”
Senior Michelle Wallace placed 14th overall with a time of 22:05 in the women’s 6K race. Sophomore Katie Nestor claimed 30th with a time of 22:41 and Nicole Ullmeyer’s time of 23:04 placed her in 41st among the runners. Three other athletes, including senior Kelly Cahill, and freshmen Cathy Goncalves and Rachel Morris, followed closely behind and finished within the next 40 seconds.
“We are all capable of running at the same pace as these top athletes. If we can run together in races like we do during practices, we will be in great shape for regionals and nationals,” Goncalves said.
The men’s cross country runners included junior T.J. Bocchino, who placed 12th with a time of 25:23 and senior Brandon Rodkewitz, who, with a finish time of 26:12, gained the 50th spot overall. The other runners each contributed to the team’s overall strong performance, as well. Junior Dennie Waite ran a race-time of 26:27, with freshman Max Sparshatt not far behind, coming in at 26:31. Kyle Roos, a junior, ran a time of 26:41 and sophomore Andy Herschman finished at 26:52.
“It was a great learning experience,” said Sparshatt. “We had a lot of team bonding, as well good preparation for our upcoming meets, including the NJAC race, regionals and nationals.”
Johns Hopkins University was able to achieve the title of the competition for the women’s race with 64 points, while New York University took first for the men’s race, with 28 points.
