PRINCETON, N.J. - The Monmouth University men's and women's cross country competed at the Princeton Invitational, Saturday morning at West Windsor Fields. The women's team finished eight out of 12 teams, led by junior Jen Nelson's (Barnegat, N.J./Barnegat) sixth place finish, while senior Ben Hutterer (Saxonburg, Pa./Knoch) paced the men's squad to a 10th place finish out of 13 teams, finishing 22nd overall.
Iona took the women's crown, tallying 58 points. Columbia trailed the Geals, finishing with 80 points followed by host team Princeton, with 108 points. St. Joe's (113), Xavier (135), South Carolina (140), and George Mason (162) finished in front of the Hawks, who registered 192 points. Haverford (225), UMBC (251), Mount Saint Mary's (284) and NJIT (359) rounded out the field of 12.
"Our women really went after it against a very good field," commented head coach Joe Compagni. "They are getting stronger every week."
Nelson completed the 6.1k (3.8 miles) in 22:31.7, placing her third in school history on the Princeton course, which MU has competed on six times in the last five years. Sophomore Kelsey Maher (Jackson, N.J./Jackson Memorial) was the second Hawk to cross the finish line, 30th overall, with a time of 23:12.9, 2:45 faster than her effort a year ago at Princeton. Freshman Lucia Montefusco (Levittown, N.Y./MacArthur) broke the Monmouth freshman record at the course, posting a 23:43.2, breaking Juliet Smith's time of 23:57 from 2008. Senior Tiffany McKenna (Swainton, N.J./Wildwood Catholic) completed the race in 23:59.0, good for 60th place. Senior Christine Altland (Hazlet, N.J./Raritan), sophomores Emily MacEwen (South Glastonbury, Conn./Glastonbury) and Amanda Eller (Delmont, N.J./Millville) rounded out the top seven for the Blue and White.
University of Texas led the way in the men's 8k (5 miles) race, scoring 23 points. Princeton registered 69 points, followed by Haverford with 74 points. Columbia recorded a fourth place finish with 144 points trailed by Xavier with 164 points. Iona (174), St. Joe's (189), Boston College (217), UMBC (246) and Monmouth (256) rounded out the top ten. Stony Brook, NJIT and Mount St. Mary's completed the field.
"As a team our men had a shot to beat some excellent teams but did not execute exactly as planned," said Compagni. "We did have some excellent individual efforts and we have some great opportunities ahead in the next few weeks."
Hutterer ran his way to second in school history on the Princeton course posting a time of 25:06.4. Junior Dan Collura (Jackson, N.J./Jackson Memorial) finished with a career-best 25:47.3, good for 64th place, followed by classmates Mike Bertocchi (Morris Plains, N.J./Parsippany Hills) and Ryan Mulligan (Hazlet, N.J./Raritan) finishing in 26:21.8 and 26:27.1, respectively. Sophomore Bobby Hoffman (Holmdel, N.J. /Holmdel) registered a time of 26:31.0 while junior Garth DeBlasio (Millstone, N.J./Allentown) posted a 26:37.1 finish. Senior Billy Dowd (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peter's) rounded out the top-seven for MU, finishing the five-miles in 27:04.7.
Monmouth harries will prepare for the Northeast Conference Championships, on October 30th, hosted by Central Connecticut State at Stanley Quarter Park in New Britain, Conn. The women's race begins at 11 a.m. followed by the men's race at noon.
