October 12, 2007 - 25th of 25 at Penn State Inv.
October 12, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
College Cross Country
Rider at Penn State National Invite
STATE COLLEGE, Pa.—The Rider men placed 17th of 20 and the Rider women were 25th of 25 teams at the high-powered Penn State National Invite Friday. “We’re a very young team and this is all a part of the development process,” said Rider coach Bob Hamer.
For the Rider men, senior John Smith (Cliffwood Beach/Matawan) placed first for the Broncs, 53rd overall, covering the 5.2 mile course in 27:22. “Smith ran a great race,” Hamer said. “He ran up with the lead pack and really held his own for about two miles but had a tough finish. He lost about 18 spots over the last mile. That’s something we’ll fix over the next two weeks before the conference meet.”
Freshman Christian Gonzalez (Somerset/Franklin Twp.) was 77th overall among the 222 runners in 27:45. This was the second time Gonzalez finished second among the Bronc runners. He placed second overall in the Bronc Invitational earlier this year. “He’s a great young talented kid who is just coming off a calf injury,” Hamer said.
For the Rider women, junior Kelly Wojciehowski (Fair Haven/Rumson Fair Haven) placed 119th among the 278 runners, covering the 6,000 meter course in 23:49. “Kelly really ran a great race for us today,” Hamer said.
Also for the Rider women, junior Megan Crowe (Philadelphia, PA/St. Hubert’s) was 148th in 24:34, sophomore Kelsey Kohler (Southampton, PA/Saint Basil’s Academy) was 156th in 24:58, sophomore Lauren Lester (Schenectady, NY/Mohonasen) was 162nd in 25:19, freshman Chelsea Callan (Hazlet/Raritan) was 166th in 25:25, sophomore Kelly Dissinger (Landisville, PA/Hempfield) was 169th in 25:38 and freshman Ashley O’Brien (Edison/J.P. Stevens) was 173rd in 26:10.
“The women put forth a lot of effort and really worked hard,” Hamer said.
Also for the Rider men, who placed ahead of Syracuse, St. Francis PA and Bloomsburg, junior Matt Dahl (West Keansburg/Raritan) finished 92nd in 28:00, senior Jeff Stead (Fairless Hills, PA/Pennsbury) was 115th in 28:42, freshman Michael Soroko (Kinnelon) was 126th in 29:08, freshman Christopher Reale (Princeton Junction/West Windsor Plainsboro South) was 127th in 29:08 and sophomore Phillip Capaldi (Woxall, PA/Souderton) was 134th in 29:27.
“I don’t think the results were indicative of how the men ran today,” Hamer said. “We had a really good race plan and we made every effort to execute it. Today was a much better effort than when we ran two weeks ago. I was really proud of the effort, we just didn’t seem to get rewarded for our effort.”
La Salle won the men’s race and West Virginia won the women’s race. The top male finisher was Andre Silva of Kentucky in 26:16. The first woman to finish was Marie-Louise Asselin of West Virginia in 20:46.
“If we want to raise the level of our performance we have to see what is out there,” Hamer said. “Today we ran against some very talented teams, teams we don’t get to see in our normal schedule.”
Rider competes again October 26 at the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championships, held at Van Cortlandt State Park in New York.
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