XC Teams Run Into History Books with Best-Ever Performance

Williamstown, Mass. - The men's and women's cross country teams travelled to Massachusetts to compete in the ECAC Championships on Saturday and both teams finished better than any SJC cross country team ever in their history.  The men came in 12th out of the 49 teams who competed; their best previous finish was 14th last year.  The women came in 5th place out of the 49 teams who ran, besting last year's record breaking 9th place finish.  The only four teams to beat the Lady Eagles are all ranked in the top 35 nationwide in Division III.  They are Williams College (#3), Middlebury  (#5), Amherst (#17) and Tufts (#20).

Individually, Christine Cristobal was named All-ECAC with her 14th place finish in the 284 person race. The next four St. Joseph's women finished closely behind Cristobal with AnnMarie Zigrosser in 36th, Gillian Goodwin 47th, Maureen Quinn 52nd and Caitlyn Ryan 61st. The team scoring was completed with Brittany Guttieri placing 93rd and Lauren Waka 97th.

The men's team was paced by Brian Wersan breaking the school record set last year by Eric Haun.  Wersan ran the 4.97 mile race in 27:55 and placed 44th out of the 287 finishers.  Mike Lombardi finished seconds later in 49th place.  Jon Afanador was 90th, Evan Haun 103rd, Paul Milazzo 109th, Rich Schimmel 158th and Kevin Sanders came in 187th.

The teams have a very busy week ahead with the Skyline Championships having been rescheduled for Wednesday at Chadwick Lake Park near Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh, N.Y.  Both teams are favored to win, but feel the pressure of many improving teams looking to upset the two-time defending champions.  The next day, the teams will take the long bus trip up to Rochester to compete in the NCAA Regional Championships.