HOLMDEL, NJ – In the 21st instalment of the Monmouth Cross Country Invitational, held at the always challenging Holmdel Park, the Monmouth men's and women's cross country teams ran to first place finishes Saturday morning. The men's team saw five Hawks cross the finish line within eight-tenths of a second of each other, while rookie Rachel Lehnert (Fair Haven, NJ/Rumson-Fair Haven) finished first for the MU women with her second top-five finish in as many weeks.
“The men did a nice job for the second-straight week working together as a group and running in packs,” commented head Joe Compagni. “On the women's side, our eighth runner finished before any other team's sixth finisher which shows the depth of our squad and proved to be key today in helping us get a share of first overall.”
In the men's race, the Hawks earned the top-eight spots and earned 11 of the first 12 finishers in the five mile event. Ben Dillion (Cherry Hill, NJ/Cherry Hill East) earned first overall, registering a time of 27:43.9 followed by Kyle Mueller (Brick, NJ/MATES) who ran a time of 27:44.2. Kevin Summonte (Freehold, NJ/Freehold Township) earned third place, clocking in at 27.44.4, while Kevin French (Fishkill, NY/John Jay) trailed two-tenths of a second behind. Graham Huggins-Filozof (Freewood Acres, NJ/Freehold Township) posted his second top-five result of the season with a time of 27:44.8. Ryan Mitchell (Lansdale, PA/La Salle College H.S.) earned sixth on the leaderboard, running to a time of 28:03.0, 8.9 second in front of Gerard Sclafani (Red Bank, NJ/Butler [DeSales/US Army]), who rounded-out the Hawks' top-seven.
Monmouth, which earned its third-straight win at its own invitational and 12th overall victory at the event, overwhelmed the field, earning a perfect 15 points, 41 points in front of Wagner which earned second. Georgian Court ran to a third place finish with 72 points, while Middlesex CC earned fourth with only three finishers.
Lehnert continued her strong start to her Monmouth career for the women's team, running the 5k (3.1 miles) in 18:56.2, good for a fourth place finish and set her second-straight rookie record. Jenna Cupp (Newark Valley, NY/Newark Valley) navigated the hilly course in 19:04.5 to earn fifth place and a spot in the top-10 in school history. Molly McKeon (Royersford, PA/Pope John Paul II) recorded a top-10 finish with a time of 19:42.8, a second in front of Maggie Hanlon (Toms River, NJ/Toms River North). Rachael Baker (Hanson, MA/Whitman Hanson Regional) landed in 13th overall with a time of 19:54.5 for MU, which saw its top-five finishers earn an average of 19:28, good for third all-time in school history at Holmdel. Danielle Leavitt (Forked River, NJ/Lacey Township) captured 14th with 20:00.5, while Allie Wilson (Wallingford, PA/Strath Haven) closed out the Hawks' top-seven with a 16th place finish, earning a time of 20:12.0.
Monmouth and Rutgers earned the top spot in the seven-team field, each accumulating 39 points. St. John's ran to a third place finish, posting 78 points, 39 tallies in front of Wagner. Georgian Court placed fifth with 123 points, while Montclair State (148) and Middlesex CC earned sixth and seventh, respectively.
Monmouth returns to action next week at the Rider Invitational held at Rosedale Park, the site of the 2015 MAAC Cross Country Championships. First race from Pennington, NJ is slated for 10 a.m.
-@MonmouthUXCTF-
