This Saturday, the NYSCTC Cross Country Championships were hosted by the Rensselaer cross country team on their home course in Saratoga Spa State Park.
The teams, traveling from all across New York to compete in the championships, were Ithaca, SUNY Geneseo, St. Lawrence, New York University, SUNY Brockport, SUNY Fredonia, Hamilton, RIT, the University of Rochester, SUNY Buffalo, Alfred, SUNY Oswego, Hartwick, Union, and Nazareth. On the RPI team, the women and men ranked sixth and eighth in the meet respectively.
The women’s team scored a total of 209 points with all of their scoring athletes running times under 21 minutes for the 5K course. The leading athlete, Rebecca Rosenberg-Beran, placed 17th wtih a time of 18:44. Following Rosenberg-Beran was Lauren Carter, who finished 29th with a time of 19:09.
Also under 20 minutes were Cara O’Toole, placing 50th with 19:49, and Claire Lears, placing 59th at 19:59.
Scoring the remainder of the team points was Leah Underwood, who placed 82nd with a time of 20:31. These five athletes have consistently been scoring points for RPI throughout the 2003 season.
The top five scoring athletes on the men’s team, totaling 246 points, all finished within one minute of each other.
Lead runner for the RPI team, Dave Hurtado, finished in 27:09, placing 31st overall. Next was John Bonnett in 27:30, placing 45th, followed by Josh Schuester, placing 57th with a time of 27:50.
Also under 30 minutes was Bob Baniak, placing 61st in 27:52. Rounding off the top five was Will Kohut, running for 28:07 and finishing in 72nd place.
The cross country teams would like to thank the RPI Pep Band for playing throughout the races and coming to Saratoga cheer them on.
The team will be traveling to Geneseo to compete in the NCAA Regional event which will be held November 15.
