This Saturday, the cross-country team competed in the ninth annual UCAA Championships hosted by Hobart and William Smith. Also competing in the meet were St. Lawrence, Hamilton, Vassar, William Smith, and Union.
The women’s team, racing a 6K instead of the usual 5K course, placed second to St. Lawrence with a team score of 51 points. Senior Rebecca Rosenberg-Beran once again led the women with a finishing time of 23:38, earning third place overall in the middle of a pack of St. Lawrence athletes. Following Rosenberg-Beran was freshman Lauren Carter in eighth place with a time of 24:15 and senior Claire Lears in 10th with 24:24. Next to finish, completing the top five scoring athletes for RPI, were senior Cara O’Toole, in 15th with 24:55 and Leah Underwood, in 17th with 25:06.
The results from the men’s team in the championship race were nearly the same as the women’s. The team scored 58 points and also placed second overall to St. Lawrence. The lead runner, senior Dave Hurtado, individually placed seventh for RPI in 27:38 and was closely followed by junior teammate Josh Schuster who placed eighth in 27:43. Following Schuster was junior Bob Baniak and senior John Bonnett finishing only a second apart. Baniak placed 13th in 27:57 and Bonnett finished in 14th place with a time of 27:58. The final runner contributing to the scoring team was sophomore Matt Haringa placing 19th in 28:14.
The team will be continuing to train for a series of meets leading up to the state championships in November, after using the Columbus day weekend to rest and grow stronger. Coming up in a couple of weeks the team will return to Williams College for the Plansky Invitational on October 18.
