BRONX, N.Y. – The Monmouth women's cross country team was paced by
Amanda Eller (Millville, N.J./Millville) for the second straight weekend as they placed second in the Fordham Invitational and Ed Joyce Memorial Run on Saturday morning at Van Cortlandt Park, finishing only behind the host Fordham. The men's squad placed sixth overall, led by
Tommy Darlington (Bethlehem, Pa./Bethlehem) who was the first Hawk to finish for the first time in his career.
The women posted a 68 point score, finishing only behind Fordham's 55 in Division One competition. They were trailed by Rider (77 points), Rutgers (87 points), Hartford (115 points), Fairleigh Dickinson (178 points), and MAAC foes Fairfield (96 points) and St. Peter's (247 points).
“This is the best we have ever run here as a team this early in the season,” said head coach Joe Compagni. “We have a lot of work to do but this was an encouraging result for the women for an early season race.”
The women placed second in the run, notching 68 points, second to only the host Rams. Eller led the way for MU, and was followed closely by freshman Lennon Cooper (Holmdel, N.J./Holmdel), whose time of 19:27.5 was the second best finish ever for an MU freshman woman at Van Cortlandt Park. Monmouth's freshmen women had their second consecutive strong showing as Jenna Cupp (Newark Valley, N.Y./Newark Valley) registered the third best MU freshman time at the course in her 13th place finish at 19:32.4. The next four Hawks to come across were all freshmen, beginning wit Kristen Rodgers-Erickson (High Bridge, N.J/Voorhees), who clocked in at 20:02.7, good for 24th. Rachael Baker (Hanson, Mass./Whitman Hanson Regional) finished just a few steps behind Rodgers-Erickson at 20:06.2. The MU top five averaged a time of 19:35.7, the fifth fastest top five average ever at Van Cortlandt Park. Two more freshmen rounded out the Monmouth top seven, as Jessica Ball came through at 20:13, good for 31st, trailed by Molly McKeon (Royersford, Pa./Pope John Paul II), who was 38th in the field of 120 with a time of 20:25.8.
Darlington was the first Hawk to cross the finish line, placing 34th in 27:40.8 on the rolling five mile layout at Van Cortlandt Park. He led a group of three Hawks that finished consecutively, as senior captain Anthony Branco (Old Bridge, N.J./Matawan) ran a 27:43.5 and Andrew Langille (Scarborough, Ontario, Canada/R.S. McLaughlin C.V.I) raced to a 27:45.7. Freshman Matt Nelson (Barnegat, N.J./Barnegat) and senior Pat Ryan (Leonia, N.J./Leonia) finished back-to-back in 39th and 40th, posting times of 28:04.5 and 28:14.4 respectively. The MU top seven also included Kevin French (Fishkill, N.Y./John Jay) at 47th place in 28:57.5 and Alex Hershman (Elkins Park, Pa./Cheltenham) at 49th in 29:00.
“The good news for the men is that we were able to get a hard race-type effort in at the course where the MAAC and IC4A Championships will be in November, and our top five was only 34 seconds apart from each other,” said Compagni.
The MU men finished fifth in Division One competition with 167 points, behind first place Navy, who had 21 points. Rider, Fordham, and Fairfield all finished ahead of the Hawks, while Rutgers and Hartford placed behind Monmouth.
Both the men's and women's cross country teams return to action on September 21 at Holmdel Park in Holmdel, N.J. for the 19th Annual Monmouth Invitational. The men are set to begin at 10:00 a.m., with the women's race beginning 45 minutes later at 10:45.
