DYLAN FORMAN
Special to The Leader
On Saturday, the men’s and women’s cross country teams traveled to Houghton College to compete in the Highlander Invitational. The meet consisted of 10 total teams, including SUNYAC Conference rivals Geneseo, Oswego and Brockport.
It was a rainy, muddy day in Houghton, New York as the men looked to continue their dominance of late. Sophomore Vinny Melia described the 8K course as, “one giant mud puddle.” However, this barely fazed the men as they ran away with the victory over all comers. Second behind the men’s 39 points was Geneseo (who was missing a number of their top runners) with 48 points.
Early on, it was Chris Shartrand upfront for the Blue Devils, followed closely by Zakk Hess. Steve Whittemore and Collin Mulcahy decided to take a much more conservative approach early to bide their time to move later in the race. Late in the race, it was Whittemore who looked strong as he battled for the lead with Mulcahy and Hess working together a short distance behind.
Whittemore was the first Blue Devil to cross the line in third with a time of 26:39. Following him in fourth and fifth place, overall, was Hess (26:47) and Mulcahy (26:50). Rounding out the scoring five was Chris Shartrand (26:57) in ninth place and Kyle Collins (27:38) in 20th place.
One of Fredonia’s top runners, freshman Cody Martini, did not race as he was out of town for personal reasons.
The displacers for the men were sophomore Jed Kovalovsky in 28:22 and freshman Bobby Cooper with a time of 28:27.
After the race, Head Coach Tom Wilson called the victory “a great confidence booster.”
The men look particularly fit early on as they have won their second con- secutive meet. After three meets, the team record is a combined 26-1. More importantly, they are a combined 25-0 against NCAA DIII teams. Also, the Blue Devils have defeated all four of their opponents within the SUNYAC conference thus far, with five other teams still to face.
On the women’s side, Fredonia was able to finish in second place overall among the 10 teams. Their team score of 66 points was second only to RIT with 50 points.
The front-runner for the women, once again, was senior Kim Foltz. Foltz continued her individual dominance in the early going, finishing in third place overall with a time of 19:06 for five kilometers.
The top four runners for the Blue Devils were seniors as Foltz was followed closely by Anna Hourihan (19:38) for ninth place, Becca List (19:46) for 15th place, and Alissa Conti (19:52) in 19th place.
Closing out the top five for the women was junior Amanda Cocchiara in 20th place with a time of 19:53. The sixth and seventh place runners for the day were junior Emily Palmeri and freshman Alyssa Stroud.
The women, much like the men, have looked strong early on in the season. With three meets under their belts, the girls are a combined 25-2, and 24-1 versus NCAA DIII teams. Having faced four teams in the SUNYAC Conference, the women are also 4-0 to go along with the men.
Next weekend, the teams are split as some runners will compete at Roberts Weslyan while others will take the day off. Following next weekend, both teams will look to perform strong at their pre regional meet at Letchworth State Park.