On Friday, the men’s and women’s cross country teams competed at the Herb Lorenz Invitational at the College of New Jersey, where they both placed third overall. The women earned 87 points and the men acquired 89.
Senior Zoey Cassavell was the first Roadrunner to cross the finish line, finishing at 19:54.5 for eighth overall. Sophomore Zoe Gregory and freshman Elena Guzman took 16th and 17th, clocking in at 20:44.4 and 20:47.3, respectively. This was Guzman’s first 5k collegiate race.
Junior Francesca Cartagena and freshman Jasmin Silva-Vargas finished off the top five for the Roadrunners, Cartagena clocking in at 21:23.1 and Silva-Vargas at 21:51.3.
The men set many new personal best times. Senior Mohamed Nidaazzi placed 15th overall with a time of 20:09.9 and sophomore Brandon Meneses also recorded a new personal best, clocking in at 20:49.6.
For freshmen Nicolas Tucci and James Brill, this was their first 6k, and the two recorded times of 20:50.4 and 21:07.1, respectively. Senior George Losche posted a personal best time of 21:97.7 and junior James Stanton did the same at 21:48.1.
Junior Ryan Pena not only set a new personal best, but won the 6k with a time of 19:03.5. “I wasn’t heading into the race thinking I would win,” Pena said in an email to the Ramapo News. “I’m quite pleased by how the race felt…my prime motivation was to be resilient enough to be the person my teammates can rely on most and I think I did just that.”
Both teams will compete again on Oct. 12 at the METs Championships hosted by NJIT at Branch Brook Park.
ajones11@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of @ramapoathletics
