BRONX, NY – In the final event of the 2015 season, the Monmouth University women's cross country team ran to a third place finish and the men's team claimed sixth at the 2015 ECAC/IC4A Championships, held Saturday morning at the historic Van Cortlandt Park. Five different Hawks completed the 5k women's race in the top-20, led by junior Jenna Cupp (Newark Valley, NY/Newark Valley), while senior Kevin French (Fishkill, NY/John Jay) and freshman Ryan Mitchell (Lansdale, PA/La Salle College H.S.) earned All-East accolades for the men's squad.
“We had a few key people who were less than 100% today, but some others really stepped up to let us end the season with some very positive finishes,” stated Head Coach Joe Compagni.
The women duplicated its third place finish from last year which matched its second-best finish in school history and also earned an ECAC “Top S” trophy for the third time in the last five years. Cupp, who paced the Hawks for the sixth consecutive event, averaged 6:06.2 a mile and landed in 18th place out of 163 runners with a time of 18:57.7, while freshman Rachel Lehnert (Fair Haven, NJ/Rumson-Fair Haven) completed the race 6.3 second later, good for 22nd overall and a share of the Monmouth freshman record set by Allie Wilson (Wallingford, Pa/Strath Haven) a year ago. Junior Molly McKeon (Royersford, PA/Pope John Paul II) ran to a 19:07.8 to finish 25th, two spots ahead of classmate Rachael Baker (Hanson, MA/Whitman Hanson Regional) who registered a time of 19:09.1. Junior Maggie Hanlon (Toms River, NJ/Toms River North) earned 29th overall, crossing the finish in 19:12.8 followed by Wilson and Kendal Hand (Howell, NJ/Howell) who rounded out the Hawks' top-seven with times of 19:35.7 and 19:45.3, respectively.
The team's top-five average time of 19:06 also ranks third in school history at Van Cortlandt Park, which has been the site of the ECAC/IC4A Championships every year for the last 20 seasons.
Marist claimed the team title, earning 80 points, followed by Stony Brook with 103. The Hawks, who accumulated 121 points on the afternoon, bested former conference foe Sacred Heart by six points, while the Pioneers edged Fordham by a tally to close out the top-five of the 17-team filed.
“While the race did not go exactly as planned, our top-five women finished within 15 seconds of each other today, which was tremendous,” commented Compagni.
In a field of 183 competitors, French's average mile time of 5:11.8 allowed the four-year Hawk to navigate the five-mile course in 25:59.0 to earn his fourth top-five finish and sixth top-10 result of the season en route to his All-East honors. The senior's fifth-place finish ranks fourth in school history behind Felix Olivo (3rd in 1998), Craig Seghal (4th in 1996) and Khari Bowen (4th in 2013), while his time stands fourth in the Monmouth record books. Mitchell, who ran 26:22.2 to finish in 20th overall, is one of just three freshmen in school history to earn All-East honors in cross country, joining Jason Santucci (1999) and Bowen (2011). His time is second in school history among Monmouth rookies at Van Cortlandt Park.
Monmouth's men have earned All-East honors 34 times in the last 20 years with the Hawks picking up 12 All-East nods in the last five years alone.
Junior Kevin Summonte (Freehold, NJ/ Freehold Township) followed French and Mitchell and raced to a 33rd place finish, completing the task in 26:46.4. Freshman Kyle Mueller (Brick, NJ/MATES) registered a time of 27:00.2, 7.2 second in front of junior Gerard Sclafani (Red Bank, NJ (Butler [DeSales/US Army]). Rookie Bryan Cabral registered a time of 27:34.9 while Connor Fuller (Bainbridge, NY/Bainbridge-Guilford Central) posted a mark of 27:54.1 to close out the Hawks' top-seven.
Compagni added, “We had bigger aspirations for the men today, but they had a very strong season overall as we continue to raise the level of training and racing for the program.”
Northeastern took home the men's title, earning 77 points in the 22-team field. The Blue and White totaled 156 on the day to finish in front of five of the six MAAC schools competing at the event.
Following a few weeks off, the Monmouth men's and women's harriers will begin the indoor track and field season. A full schedule can be found on MonmouthHawks.com, when it becomes available.
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