College Cross Country
Broncs at Paul Short
BETHLEHEM, PA—The Rider women placed 25th of 35 in the Gold Race and the Rider men placed 19th of 39 in the Brown race, at the 42nd annual Paul Short Run Friday, hosted by Lehigh University.
“The athletes stepped up and ran really well today,” said Rider head coach Bob Hamer. “I was hoping for better team finishes but individually we competed at a high level for this time of year. There were many PR's, and the athletes executed the race plans we laid out for them, so I was very pleased about that.”
For the Rider women, who competed in the main event, senior Emily Ritter (Millsboro, DE/Sussex Tech) placed a Rider best-ever 16th of 312 runners, covering the 6,000 meter course in 20:59. “In the Gold race we have never had anyone finish that well,” Hamer said of his fifth-year senior, who earned All-East honors last fall and All-America honors in track & field last spring. “Unfortunately in the first 800 meters she got tripped and went down. She had to get back up and get herself back in the race. The second half of the race she ran tremendously."
Senior Nicolette Mateescu (Kendall Park, NJ/South Brunswick) placed 39th in 21:25. “Niky ran really well,” Hamer said. “She was hoping to place a little bit higher but in the Gold race there are some great runners. She ran the fastest time she has ever run for 6K.”
Last year Mateescu earned All-MAAC honors in cross country and ran a 22:23 at Paul Short.
“We wanted to test Emily and Niky against the best competition we could find and hopefully run a really great second half and that is something they did,” Hamer said. “Today they really competed against high-level people.”
The University of Guelph won the Gold race, followed by Cornell, Johns Hopkins, UConn and James Madison.
For the Rider men, sophomore Mike Pinnola (Manalapan, NJ/Colts Neck) placed 82nd among the 353 runners in the Brown race, covering the 8,000m course in 25:47. “Mike has been coming along,” Hamer said. “Today he was able to show what is true worth is. We're looking forward to a great year from him.”
Junior Brad Kaufmann (East Meadow, NY) was 92nd in 25:52. “Brad is doing well,” Hamer said. “He had an injury early in the preseason but he had a great effort today. That is the fastest time he has ever run.”
Shippensburg won the men's Brown race, followed by Columbia, Haverford, Army and Penn.
Other Rider women included sophomore Alexandra Santora (Douglasville, PA/Daniel Boone), who was 164th (22:41), graduate student Katie Kinkead (Newtown, PA/Central Bucks East) was 180th (22:48), senior Stephanie Welte (Philadelphia, PA/St. Basil's Academy) was 206th (23:11), freshman Katie Chinery (Whiting, NJ/Manchester Twp.) was 225th (23:45) and sophomore Lexie Taylor (Sewell, NJ/Washington Twp.) was 229th (24:04).
Other Rider men included sophomore Nick Kontos (Long Valley, NJ/West Morris Central), who placed 130th (26:13), junior Connor Szwetkowski (Middletown, DE/Caravel Academy) was 138th (26:17), sophomore Danniel Belay (Gaithersburg, MD) was 140th (26:19), senior Jon Knipper (Randolph, NJ) was 160th (26:29) and sophomore David Paduani (Egg Harbor, NJ) was 187th (26:440>
Rider competes at the Princeton Invitational October 17, with some Broncs traveling to the Lafayette Invitational that day. “Princeton is the site of the Regional Meet this year, so it is a great opportunity for us to get on that course before the end of the season,” Hamer said.
-ru-
