The Monmouth University men’s and women’s cross country teams competed at the CAA Championships at White Clay Creek State Park in Newark, DE on Friday, Oct. 28.
Both teams finished in the top half of the field with the men’s team taking fourth place out of 10 competing CAA schools and the women’s team placing sixth out of 12.
Redshirt-senior Louis DiLaurenzio led the Hawks in the men’s 8k event, finishing thirteenth overall with a time of 25:20.8 and becoming the first Monmouth student-athlete to earn all-conference accolades.
Seb Reed and Declan McDonnell were the next top finishers for the Hawks, finishing 23rd with a time of 25:41.7 and 27th with a time of 25:41.8, respectively. Cameron Janovic, Stone Caraccio, Carrington Retzios, and Shane Ainscoe were also top finishers for Monmouth on the men’s side of the competition.
“Really proud of the way the student-athletes competed today! This was historic as it was the first CAA championship for our teams. The men got us started today as they ran a tough, intelligent race on a challenging course. We moved up as the race progressed and ran strongly from the 6k to 8k marks,” said Mike Nelson, Head Coach and Director of Track and Field/Cross Country.
Redshirt-senior Ashley Navarro led the women’s team with a time of 22:24.8 to secure a 21st place finish overall, passing 20 runners during the race. Josie Wilson wasn’t far behind her teammate, running a 22:46.0 to earn 25th. McKenzie Delahanty and Isabella Leak followed closely behind, running 22:52.6 and 22:58.7 to bring home 29th and 34th place finishes for the Hawks. Marisa Kilgarriff, Sydney Todd, and Jenny Tavares also posted top finishes for Monmouth’s women’s team.
“The women also had a strong day. We ran a smart race and moved up throughout,” continued Nelson as he described the team’s performance. “Overall, it was a great experience for our student-athletes. We’re happy with how we finished today, but we want to move up in the future. We’re looking forward to the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional meet in two weeks.”
The NCAA D-I Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships are set to take place on Friday, Nov. 11 at Penn State University, followed by the NCAA Championships the next weekend on Saturday, Nov. 19 in Stillwater, OK.
Two weeks after the inaugural race in program history, the Monmouth University women’s rowing team traveled to Philadelphia to compete in the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta on Saturday, Oct. 29.
The Hawks won their first two medals ever, earning third place finishes in the Women’s Collegiate Freshman 4+ and the Women’s Collegiate Freshman 8+.
Monmouth had two boats in the Women’s Collegiate Freshman 4+, placing third and sixth in the 22 boat field. The Monmouth “A” entry consisted of Marissa McKenzie, Samantha LeCrone, Grace Hutchinson, Nicole Mercora, and coxswain Alaina Ruggiero and secured a bronze medal for the Hawks with a time of 15:14.0. Monmouth’s “B” entry of Kaitlyn Rice, Alayna Degan, Casey Mastin, Keira Yablonsky, and coxswain Hailea Anderson finished shortly behind their teammates, placing sixth in 15:39.5.
In the Women’s Collegiate Freshman 8+, Monmouth’s McKenzie, Mercora, Hutchinson, Samantha LeCrone, Degan, Sherlyn Gonzalez, Yablonsky, Rice and coxswain Ruggiero earned another bronze medal with a third place finish out of 16 teams in 14:07.5.
“This team continues to find another gear on race day. We took the technical changes that we have been working on and really did a great job of executing today,” said head coach Scott Belford.
The women’s rowing team will wrap up their fall season at Mercer County Park in West Windsor, NJ on Nov. 12. At the Philadelphia Frostbite Regatta.
