BRONX, NY – Three Hawks from the Monmouth University Men's and Women's Cross Country Teams placed inside the Top 10 at the Brother Paddy Doyle Meet of Champions at Van Cortlandt Park on Friday morning.
 
Two freshmen led the women's squad as Emily Simko (18:32.8) placed inside the Top 10 at ninth and Ellie Keefer (18:38.0) finished 11^th. On the men's side, it was junior Declan McDonnell (25:11.1) and senior Seb Reed (25:38.9) pacing Monmouth with third- and sixth-place finishes, respectively.

Out of six full squads competing at the meet hosted by Iona, the Monmouth women earned third place with 70 points, while the men placed fourth with 87.

TOP FINISHERS
Men's Top Seven Finishers
3. Declan McDonnell (25:11.1)
6. Seb Reed (25:38.9)
24. Tyler Clifford (26:13.6)
25. Tennessee Tremain (26:13.7)
32. Aidan Gilmore (26:26.7)
34. Cameron Janovic (26:30.9)
53. Thomas Schulz (27:16.0)

Women's Top Seven Finishers
9. Emily Simko (18:32.8)
11. Ellie Keefer (18:38.0)
15. Ashley Navarro (18:44.5)
18. Marisa Kilgarriff (18:48.7)
19. Allie Pierontoni (18:52.3)
20. Isabella Leak (19:11.8)
27. Jacci Martinelli (19:27.8)

QUOTES
"I was really pleased with how our teams competed today. Both teams ran quite a bit faster than we did two years ago at this meet.  Our top-five average improved by 40 seconds for the men and 17 seconds for the women.
 
Also, we've been competing at historic Van Cortlandt Park for decades, and today Declan McDonnell ran 15 seconds faster than any other Monmouth athlete has ever run. We are still very early in the season and we have some room to improve, but overall, it was a good day for the Hawk Harriers!" - Director of Track and Field/Cross Country and Head Coach Mike Nelson

UP NEXT
The Hawks will run next at the Paul Short Invitational hosted by Lehigh at the Paul Short XC Course on Saturday, September 30.