Top Flight Effort for Women's and Men Cross Country at Bard Invitational

Annandale, N.Y. — Simply put, the St. Joseph's College cross-country program broke records on Saturday.

Not only did the women's team place first overall, the men placing second, bested only by Union College, but both teams outran every one of the seven Skyline Conference programs participating in the Bard Invitational.

St. Joseph's fastest weren't content with only dominating their competition, however, and went on to break even their own records. Brian Wersan (Holbrook, N.Y./Sachem North) literally outdid himself, placing 2nd overall with a time of 25:22 on the 4.75 mile course, breaking his own school record of 25:41 set last year.

Lauren Waka (Lake Ronkonkoma, N.Y./ Sachem North) and AnnMarie Zigrosser (Bayport, N.Y./ St. John the Baptist) embodied teamwork and crossed the finish line together, recording a time of 18:16 on the 2.96 mile course, securing third and fourth place while blowing away all other Skyline conference competition. With this time, Waka broke Brittany Guttieri's 2013 record time of 18:43. The men's five person average of 27:04 broke SJC's 2013 team time of 27:43 while the women's five person average of 18:39 also broke last year's record time of 19:23.

No team even came close to catching the women's team, whose incredible score of 32 put a large gap between them and second place team Mt. St. Mary (122). Following Waka and Zigrosser's lead over the finish line, Samantha Maurice (Holtsville, N.Y./ Sachem East) snagged 6th place with a time of 18:46 while Katie Scharrenbroich (Stony Brook, N.Y./ Ward Melville) came close on her heals, earning 8th place with her time of 18:54.

Wersan (Holbrook, N.Y./ Sachem North) was followed over the finish line by teammate Nick Diaz (Hauppauge, N.Y./ Hauppauge) who placed 10th overall with a time of 26:27. Nick Morfesi (West Babylon, N.Y./ West Babylon) was the 16th runner to cross the finish line with a time of 26:52.

The Golden Eagles will travel to Clove Lakes Park in Staten Island this Sunday for the College of Statin Island Invitational, which begins at 11:00 a.m.