College Cross Country

Rider at Lehigh’s Paul Short Run

BETHLEHEM, PA—The Rider men placed ninth of 38 teams and the Rider women were 12^th of 39 teams at the 36th annual Lehigh University Brooks Paul Short Run Friday. “Collectively as a group we ran much better this year than last year,” said Rider head coach Bob Hamer.

For the Rider women, junior Chelsea Callan (Hazlet/Raritan) placed 24^th of the 338 runners in the College Brown race, won by Kutztown, covering the 6,000m course in a Rider record time of 22:21. “She beat our best time on this course by about three seconds,” Hamer said. “She’s just having an outstanding year. That’s over a minute faster than she ran here last year.”

For the Rider men, who competed in the College Brown race won by Wayne State, junior Christian Gonzalez (Somerset/Franklin Twp.) finished 20^th of 323 runners, covering the 8,000m course in 25:37. Gonzalez was Rider’s top harrier all of last season but has been hampered by injuries this year.

“Chris ran a nice race today,” Hamer said. “I was real happy with that because we’ve struggled to get him through training. He’s not exactly where he’d like to be but we’re definitely much farther along than he was two weeks ago.”

Last year a healthy Gonzalez finished 49^th overall among the 298 runners, covering the 8,000m course in 24:43.

Indiana nipped Iona to win the men’s College Gold race, while West Virginia won the women’s College Gold race. Rider competed in the College Brown race this year. Tehre was also a College White race.

“We were in the right race for us this year,” Hamer said. “Last year there were two races and we were in the tougher one. This year there were three races and we were in the right one for us.”

Also for the Rider men, junior Michael Soroko (Kinnelon) placed 24^th in 25:41. “Soroko did a great job,” Hamer said. “That’s about 40 seconds faster than he ran a year ago on this course. Mike is trying to be that leader on the team and he’s putting himself out there.”

Sophomore Michael Linder (Whitehouse Station/Hunterdon Central) placed 84^th in 26:24, senior Robert McCullough (Plymouth Meeting, PA/La Salle) placed 113^th in 26:40, freshman Sean Donohue (Cliffwood Beach/Matawan) placed 120^th in 26:43, freshman Sean McCullough (Plymouth Meeting, PA/La Salle) placed 154^th in 26:54 and senior Phillip Capaldi (Woxal, PA/Souderton) was 161^st in 26:58.

“We finished strong as a team today,” Hamer said

Also for the Rider women, sophomore Heather Giovagnoli (Royersford, PA/Spring Ford) placed 61^st in 23:04, freshman Victoria Lima (Westerly, RI/Westerly) placed 82^nd in 23:23, freshman Megan Elgin (Doylestown, PA/Central Bucks East) was 112^th in 23:40, freshman Jillian Shutt (Lawrenceville, PA/Williamson) placed 132^nd in 23:50, junior Ashley O'Brien (Edison/John P. Stevens) was 143^rd in 23:58 and senior Kelsey Kohler (Southampton, PA/Saint Basil’s Academy) was 145^th in 23:58.

“We have a really nice pack of young kids,” Hamer said. “Ashley and Kelsey really stepped up today and ran nice races.”

In the women’s College JV race sophomore Kristen Perrine (Brick/Brick Twp.) finished 88^th of 283 runners in 24:09, sophomore Kelli Kaelin (Little Egg Harbor/Pinelands Regional) was 126^th in 24:39, senior Dominique Carnevale (Oceanport/Shore Regional) was 164^th in 25:23, freshman Erin Mulvenna (Sewell/Our Lady of Mercy) was 183^rd in 25:41, junior Johanna Clarke (Laurelton, NY/Mary Louis Academy) finished 207^th in 26:15 and freshman Erin Fitzgibbons (Sayreville) was 215^th in 26:25.

“Kristen ran a really nice race,” Hamer said. “I think she is back in the form that we need her to be in, to compete in our top seven down the road and she showed that with her performance today.”

In the men’s College JV race, freshman Kurt Morrison (Deptford) finished 173^rd of 405 runners in 27:20, freshman John Hill (Voorhees/Eastern) was 226^th in 27:53 and freshman Robert Landgraf (Abington, PA) was 304^th in 29:11.

“Kurt had a nice breakthrough performance and so did John Hill,” Hamer said. “They are getting some rewards from the hard work they put in.”

Rider competes at the Penn State National October 16. “I always get excited for this trip,” said Hamer, who was twice an All-American on the Penn State track & field team. “The team gets excited for that trip. We’re in a better position this year than we were at this race last year and we have to make sure we keep making the progressions, closing that gap.”

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