Cross Country Hits The Road
The mens and womens cross country teams competed at the highly competitive Yellowjacket Invitational hosted by the University of Rochester. The meet featured over 200 runners in each race. The 22 teams included NCAA Division 1's, Cornell, University of Buffalo, Colgate and LeMoyne. The men and women both finished 12th. The men were led by senior captain Sean Dristle who cracked the top 20, good enough to reach the podium. Dristle was just 1 of 6 (non Cornell runners) in the top 20 who recorded a time of 26:09 for 8,000 meters. His time was the 10th fastest (8k) in school history. Senior Ryan King was impressed with the vibe of the team, "what I saw in the eyes of my fellow teammates today was the hunger to dominate the competition!"
The women were led by senior captain Savannah Kuhr who placed 46th with a time of 24:09 (6k). Senior Bryce Hopper came in next for the Mighty Oaks with a time of 24:29. First year Tee Atwater came in just behind Hopper with a time of 24:32. Atwater's time is now in the record books as the 8th fastest (6k) for any first year Mighty Oak. Senior captain Aubrianna Brown said, "The meet was great and despite there being 22 teams, we raced confidently and did well for each other."
Coach Melfi's comments
We worked hard, smart and diligently over the past 2 weeks. We still have a ton of work to do, but I like how we held our own against some good competition. We lost our 1, 2 and 5th guy from last years men's USCAA national championship team. We have to rely on our first year guys, and they are getting better each day. Jerome Seidl and Aidan Watts, (2 first years) ran smart races and placed in our top 5. Our women ran well and we will continue to improve. We did not race everyone on both sides so I am looking forward to when we are at full strength.