Cross Country Has Great Showing at St. John's/Hofstra Invitational
Oakdale, N.Y. — The St. Joseph's College cross country program has made a statement to their competition early this season: they can run with the big dogs.
The Division III program placed fifth at the Stony Brook Invitational last week, but certainly put up a respectable fight against the four Division I teams that bested them. This past Sunday, at the St. John's/Hofstra Invitational at St. John's Oakdale campus, the program only reaffirmed their dominance.
SJC's women's cross country team placed second out of six Division II and III teams, trumping their Farmingdale rivals and shattering the 2002 school course record of 21:49. If the scoring had incorporated all three divisions, the women would have placed fourth out of the ten participating teams, beating out both Division I Hofstra and NJIT teams.
The men placed fourth when all six Division II and III are considered together; however, they were ranked first out of all participating Division III teams, outrunning both Farmingdale and Suffolk CC.
Senior Lauren Waka (Lake Ronkonkoma, N.Y./ Sachem North) was the first Lady Golden Eagle to cross the finish line of the 5K course with a time of 20:17, placing third out of Division II and III teams and 10th overall. Waka was followed closely by teammate AnnMarie Zigrosser (Bayport, N.Y./ St. John the Baptist), who placed fifth with a time of 20:34. Katie Scharrenbroich (Stony Brook, N.Y./ Ward Melville) and Samantha Maurice (Holtsville, N.Y. Sachem East ), in sync with each other throughout the course, both crossed the finish line at 21:09.
Senior Brian Wersan (Holbrook, N.Y./ Sachem North) led the men's team across the finish line with a time of 16:21, placing fifth out of Division II and III teams and 12th overall. Freshman Nick Morfesi (West Babylon, N.Y./ West Babylon), building what will surely be a stellar rookie season, crossed the finish line at 17:24, placing 19th. Nick Diaz (Hauppauge, N.Y./ Hauppauge) was close behind logging a time of 17:35 and placing 21st.
Both the men and women will travel to Brookeville, N.Y. on Saturday to compete in the LIU Post Invitational.
