On Saturday, October 19, the men’s and women’s cross-country teams traveled to Glassboro, NJ, to run at the Rowan Border Battle. The women Ducks took 13th place with a total of 364 team points in the 6k, and the men took 10th place with a total of 370 team points in the 8k.
For the women, graduate student Nina Burden led the Ducks with a 53rd place time of 23:16.9, followed by graduate student Fionna Feerick who finished with a time of 23:30.5. Behind them was first-year Isabella Gabay at 21:31.2, and sophomore Kaitlyn Adams at 79th with a time of 23:45.8. Finishing off the top scorers for the Ducks was first-year Madeline Bender coming in 129th place with a time of 24:43.8. Senior Samantha Rozek and graduate student Jacqueline Lulaj finished back-to-back in the top-150 with respective times of 25:06.3 and 25:07.1. Also running for Stevens, and finishing after Lulaj were first-years Anya Sadowski at 25:13.3 and Catherine Bondi at 26:25.2, junior Taylor Enes with a time of 26:30.7, and sophomore Kate Cen and junior Gianna Adamo finishing at 27:12, and 28:31.7.
The men’s race had graduate student Liam Concannon as Stevens’ top finisher with a time of 25:35.1, missing top-35 by two seconds. Following him were graduate students Jake Aylmer at 26:00.2 and Bryan Onody coming in the top 100 at 26:42. Junior Caleb Stephen landed 104th place with a time of 26:48.4, with graduate student Frank Orlando behind him at 125th in 27:02.8. Sophomore Ryan Paradine finished shortly after at 27:05.3, with junior Danny Jutras tying at 27:10.1. Finishing off the top-150 for Stevens was senior Jake Porco, crossing the finish line at 27:24.9. Also running for Stevens were first-years Cillian Griffin tallying a time of 27:40, and Kevin Medrow at 27:44.3, junior Mick Barbi clocking in at 27:59.9, and first-years Matthew Hodorowski, Enrico Parrella, James Adamo, and Luke Giangrande finishing with times of 28:04.8, 28:25, 29:10.2, and 30:38.6 respectively.
It was a big meet for both the men’s and women’s teams, with runners from both teams hitting PRs: Burden, Feerick, Gabay, Adams, Bender, Sadowski, Bondi, Cen, and Adamo in the 6k, and Onody, Stephen, Orlando, Paradine, Griffin, Medrow, and Hodorowski in the 8k. Head coach John Kolibab said, “We’ve not had a perfect meet, and we haven’t always been at full strength, but our groups [sic] is still finding ways to perform very well. They’re getting better together, which as [sic] incredibly exciting thing headed into Championship season.” The Ducks will be seen heading into the championship season on November 2, starting at Messiah University for the Middle Atlantic Conference Cross Country Championships, followed by the Metro Regional Championships held in Galloway, NJ, on November 16.
