Cross Country
The men’s and women’s cross country teams at RPI are eager to hit the track again this Saturday at the Saint Rose Golden Knight Joust, to be held in Loudonville, N.Y. Both teams are led by Head Coach Colin Tory, who starts his 13th season at the helm for each squad.
Tory holds high aspirations for both teams this season, aiming for national level competition. First-year Assistant Coach Jennifer Adams will be a great asset to the team, being a former national champion herself. “We look to upgrade the competition in both track and cross country. This October we’re competing in the Inter-Regional Rumble held in Oberlin, Ohio. There will be representatives from four NCAA regions there, which will give us a good preview of the competition at the national level,” said Coach Tory.
Returning this season for the women will be captains junior Kathryn Markowitz and senior Nikki Kosina, juniors Lauren Brown, Heather Buletti, and Erin Kyle, and sophomore Christine Koch, who have all done exceptionally well in the previous seasons. Making her cross country debut this year will be junior Ariel Hubert, who has shown great success as a member of the track and field team the past two seasons. “Ariel is a hard worker, and has been on the track team for years,” boasted Tory. “She’s the type of player that inspires others to be better themselves.”
For the men’s team, graduate students Eric Choudhary and Chris Donais, juniors Leo Pavlovsky and Seth Pearson, and sophomores Brian Debronsky, Chris Frank, and Tommy Grosskurth look to make the same impact on the team this year as they did previously. “We have lots of players looking to set it up. The returning Class of 2011 has a lot of strong runners who contributed big as freshmen last year. We’re looking for them to take even bigger roles this season,” Tory explained.
Right now, the teams’ focus is on the big picture—getting to the regional and eventually the national level, as opposed to individual races. “We are all excited to see them race for the first time since track season. Our goal as always is to be in the top 10 in regional competition, and in the top two for the Liberty League. Depth will be our strength, and I think we have a good shot at national level competition this year,” confided Tory.
Golf
The RPI golf team looks to get into the swing of things this upcoming weekend with their first matches of the season. Head Coach Miles Nolan enters his sixth season as masthead when RPI travels to Saratoga Springs, N.Y., to take part in the Tim Brown Invitational, hosted by rival Skidmore College.
The team hopes to improve on last year’s record, where overall they often sat in the middle of the pack, while a few key performers ended up among the top golfers. Last year’s graduating class will be sorely missed; however, returnees include seniors Matt Neeley and Ben Mercado, junior Dan Branken, and Liberty League Rookie of the Year, sophomore sensation Erik Fritz, who look to lead the team to greater success.
