HOLMDEL, NJ – Senior Evans Kibet led the way in the second straight meet for the Siena Cross Country team, finishing second individually on the men's side as part of three runners who placed in the top-10 at the Henry Mercer Invitational Saturday morning. Overall, the men finished second out of 11 teams while the women took fourth out of 14 competitors in their third competition of the Fall 2019 season.
"Our goal today on both sides was to learn as much as we can about the MAAC Course," Head Coach John Kenworthy said. "We executed race plans really well today, and in a heavy stretch of training, I'm really pleased with our results. There's more to come as we build into the heart of our season, but this was a positive and successful checkpoint."
Following up a MAAC Men's Cross Country Performer of the Week accolade on September 11, Kibet ran a 25:45.53 in the 8k to finish five seconds behind Monmouth's Kyle Mueller for the top spot individually. The Nandhi Hills, Kenya native was followed by senior Michael Rautter (26:26.05) and junior Aidan Canavan (26:42.69), who finished third and eighth, respectively.
As a team, the Saints (60 points) posted their best finish in three appearances at the event, trailing only MAAC rival Marist by eight points and placing ahead of conference foes Monmouth (third), Manhattan (fourth), Quinnipiac (fifth), Rider (sixth) Fairfield (eighth) and Saint Peter's (11th).
On the women's side, senior captain Sydney Johnson (18:57.54) led the way, finishing 13th individually. She was followed by sophomore Regina Rosati (20th, 19:13.36), sophomore Olivia Lomascolo (25th, 19:19.40), senior Carolyn Pellegrini (26th 19:20.11) and junior Monica Strain (29th 19:22.33) who all landed inside the top-30 for the Saints.
Taking home a fourth place team finish, the women (109 points) finished behind Princeton (19 points) and MAAC foes Marist (54 points) and Quinnipiac (98 points). The Saints bested conference counterparts Monmouth (fifth), Rider (sixth), Manhattan (eighth), Fairfield (ninth) and Saint Peter's (14th).
Siena will have a week off before traveling to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania to compete at the Paul Short Run on Saturday, October 5th at 9:30 a.m.
