The men’s and women’s cross country teams will compete in the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 30. The Hawks will see RPI again this season at the NCAA Atlantic Regionals at Houghton College on Nov. 11.
“This is sort of our midseason measure of where we’re at,” head coach Mike Trunkes said. “This is when we can start to tinker with different things and get a better sense of where to focus our energy. I think we’re gonna be in pretty great shape after this weekend.”
New Paltz will also face conference foe SUNY Plattsburgh for the first time this season. The Hawks will see the Cardinals three more times after this meet, at the Connecticut College Invitational on Oct. 14 and the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Championships on Oct. 28, as well as the NCAA Atlantic Regionals on Nov. 11.
Their last meet took place on Saturday, Sept. 16 at the UMass Dartmouth Invitational. Forty schools competed in each event, with the women finishing fifth overall and the men placing 19th.
Second-year Emily Cavanagh finished 12th overall with a time of 18 minutes, 57 seconds. This is more than 20 seconds faster than her 5k run at the Ron Stonitsch Vassar Invitational on Sept. 9 (19:18.0).
First-year Cassandra Williams was the second Hawks harrier to cross the finish line, as she placed 39th with a time of 19:34.4.
On the men’s side, fourth-year co-captain Stephen Smith was the first New Paltz runner to finish as he placed 20th overall with 26:02.2 mark. Fourth-year co-captain Barrett Celecki finished 65th with a time of 27:00.6.