The Monmouth cross country team completed their final meet of the season as they raced in the ECAC/IC4A Championships at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx on Saturday, Nov. 23. The men placed second in the IC4A Championship meet while the women finished fifth in the ECAC Championship meet.
The men’s second place title is the best finish in the University’s history at the event while the women’s finish was the third best finish in school history at the event.
Senior Amanda Eller completed her cross country career with a solid 19th place finish leading the women’s side. Eller finished the 5k at 18:54.7 while her average 1k was 3:47.0. She was six seconds shy of earning All-East Honors.
On the men’s side, junior Khari Bowen led the way finishing fourth overall. Bowen finished his 10k race with a time of 25:54.0 while his average 1k was marked at 3:13.2.
“We really focused early in the season just on training and not racing too early or too much and it worked out very well because of the work that he put in, the competitor that he is and he was a great leader for us all year” head coach Joe Compagni said of Bowen’s accomplishments. “The only thing he didn’t do was qualify for NCAA’s but he had a tremendous season. Probably one of the best if not the best in school history.”
Crossing the finish line after Bowen was junior Alex Leight who finished 31 seconds later at 26:27.0 with an average 1k of 3:17.3. Leight placed 15th overall in the race. With their finish times, Bowen and Leight both earned All-East honors. This marks Bowen’s third straight year as an All-East runner and Leight’s first.
The next Hawk to finish the 10k course was sophomore Domenick D’Agostino who finished at 26:40 placing 27th overall. Senior Anthony Branco crossed next with a time of 26:44 earning him 31st overall. Senior Pat Ryan was the next MU runner to finish as he crossed the line at 27:03 landing him the 54th overall spot. The men’s top seven was closed out by 78th place freshman Kevin Summonte and 79th place junior Tommy Darlington with times of 27:27 and 27:28 respectively.
On the women’s side, Eller led the way with freshman Lennon Cooper close behind finishing 25th overall. Cooper completed the 5k race at 19:03.9 while averaging 3:48.8 for the 1k. Senior Lucia Montefusco was the third Hawk to cross the line for women’s side at 19:19.8 securing her at 34th overall. Sophomore teammate Nina Poccia was not far behind as she crossed at 19:27.1 giving her 39th overall. Sophomore Sydney Engelberger finished the course at 19.34.0 in 45th place while freshmen Rachel Baker and Kristen Rodgers-Erickson rounded at the women’s top seven as they finished 60th and 63rd overall with times of 19:50.7 and 19.53.4 respectively.
The ECAC/IC4A Championships marked the best Championship meet both cross country teams had in their 2013 season.
“For us the focus is always the champion meets at the end of the season,” Compagni said. “As the Championship meets went on, they continued to get better.”
With the 2013 ECAC/IC4A Championships finished, the cross country team completes their season and begins to train for the next.
