By Peter Fiorilla
Correspondent
At important meets at the Paul Short Invitational on Friday, the College’s cross country teams weathered poor conditions in a pair of solid performances in the College Brown races at the event.
“We performed the best this season that we have as a team,” said senior Andrew Herschman.
At the men’s 8k, the College finished 14th place in a field of 46 teams.
Herschman led the Lions with a time of 26:27, finishing 41st out of 382 runners. “I was happy with the race, I was able to execute today, but the team performance is more important,” Herschman said. “(We’ve) definitely got some work to do.”
The team’s top five times counted toward its final score of 466. Herschman, senior Alex Yersak (66th place), junior Mike Sidebottom (105th), junior Shaun McGeever (113th) and senior Nick Bond (141st) contributed to the score.
The results of the women’s team were similar to that of the men’s. In the 6k, the women finished 15th out of 44 teams with a score of 435.
Junior Cathy Goncalves paced the team for a second time in six days, this time with a finish of 23:19, which put her in 54th place in the 385-woman race. Earlier in the week, Goncalves won the Opsrey Open at Richard Stockton College with a time of 22:52.
Sophomore Megan Flynn (69th), junior Alyssa Bannon (99th), sophomore Angii Alabanza (103rd) and junior Rachel Morris (110th) also contributed to the team’s score.
The Lions ran in poor conditions, however, which may have affected their times. “It was a slower course, a muddy day,” junior Andy Gallagher said. “A couple of our guys fell.”
The cross country teams are in action again on Oct. 15, when they compete in the Connecticut College Invitational.
A lot will be on the line in Connecticut. “It’s going to be pretty big for us,” Herschman said. “We need to show up in Connecticut and show that we can go to nationals.”
