On September 16, the men’s and women’s cross country teams traveled to Misericordia University in Dallas, PA to compete at the Cougar Classic. The men’s team finished second overall, with three runners finishing in the top five of the race, and the women’s team finished fifth overall.
Of the men’s team, graduate student Ronnie Melao was Stevens’ top finisher, and he placed second in the race of 112 runners with a time of 27:20.5. Following closely behind Melao was senior Liam Concannon, finishing third in the race with a time of 27:23.0, and not far behind him was fourth-place finisher senior Jake Aylmer, who ran a time of 27:25.5. The men’s team totaled 36 points to finish second overall, just behind Messiah University in first with 27 points. Head coach John Kolibab remarked that “everyone competed and raced better than we could have imagined. We’re incredibly excited to see how the rest of the regular season goes.”
On the women’s team, senior Jacqueline Lulaj was Stevens’ top finisher, placing 16th out of 89 runners in a time of 26:54.1. The second Stevens runner to finish was senior Fionna Feerick in a time of 27:19.3 to put her in 21st place. The team had 114 points, putting them in fifth place overall, placing them behind Messiah University, Arcadia University, York College, and Alvernia University. Head coach Kolibab added that “The unit is in great shape and I’m excited to see what they can do with a few more weeks of training under their belts.”
Building on this momentum, both the men’s and women’s teams will be traveling to Dickinson College on October 7 for the Dickinson Pre-National Meet.
