After ending their regular season at the Mideast Regional Championship in November, the men’s and women’s cross country teams returned to the track to compete in a non-traditional spring season. Despite being a fall sport, the teams competed in the Ramapo T&F Invitational in Mahwah, New Jersey on March 28 and March 29.
“Spring track, our nontraditional season, is a good time for a lot of us to focus on schoolwork and recover from a long cross-country season,” said sophomore Evan Miller. “It gives us a chance to fix small injuries, experiment with race strategies, dial in nutrition and sleep, mainly all the small things that will help in the fall season. It’s a great time to start building confidence for our summer training.”
On Friday, senior Jazmyne Daily-Simpson competed first. She cleared all 28 barriers in the steeplechase and earned a new personal best of 13:21.014, the fifth fastest time in program history. For the 10K, senior Hunter Larson finished in seventh place while earning a new personal best of 42:42.08, the second fastest time in program history. Junior Ava Nargentino came in fourteenth place and earned a new personal best, the fourth fastest in program history. The women’s 5K saw four Hawks competing. Senior captain Marcella Candlin led the team, coming in eighth place and earning a new personal best. Sophomore Orquidea Briceno also earned a new personal best and finished in twelfth place. Junior Crystal Rumani and senior Allison English rounded out the Hawks, with Rumani coming in nineteenth and English coming in fourteenth place.
“Everyone is looking good and running strong,” said Briceno. “No matter what, we’re going to put in the work and use this non-traditional as a steppingstone for the next cross-country season.”
Sophomore Brandon Gardner cleared all 28 barriers in the steeplechase, earning a time of 11:49.13, the fifth fastest time in program history. Next up, Oliver Melara-Perez, senior Vincent Mandracchia and sophomore Anthony Willis competed in the 10k event, earning new personal bests across the board. Melara-Perez led the Hawks with a fifth-place finish, Mandracchia came in sixth with the third fastest time in program history and Willis came in eleventh-place with the fourth fastest time in program history. Miller and sophomore Aidan Hesseltine, along with juniors Gavin Bowers and Joe Palazzolo, competed in the 5k. Bowers earned a new personal best and finished in ninth place, Palazzolo came in sixteenth, Miller followed in eighteenth place and Hesseltine finished nineteenth place.
Friday was the only day the men competed. On Saturday, the women competed in the middle-distance track events and relays. Up first was junior Lillian Stephenson. She finished in twentieth place in the 1500-meter run. Junior Sam Maendel and senior Mikayla Cecora then competed in the 400-meter run. Maendel finished in twenty-third place, earning a new personal best that is also the second fastest time in program history, while Cecora finished in thirty-seventh place. Later, Maendel returned to compete in the 800-meter run, finishing in twenty-third place and earning another new personal best. Candlin, Rustami, Daily-Simpson and Briceno ran the 4×800 relay together, coming in sixth place. The time they earned is the third fastest in program history. Candlin, Daily-Simpson and Briceno all set new personal bests during their legs of the relay.
The team’s will next compete in the Silfen Invitational at Connecticut College on Friday, April 11.
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