Cross Country Culminates Season, Women Take Third

Following the two biggest meets of the cross country season for the Red, this weekend marked the last competitions for the men and women. Both teams traveled to the Bronx for the IC4V and ECAC championship meets, where they pulled out a final effort. In addition, the men’s team was represented at the NCAA national championship meet in Indiana yesterday by senior co-captain Sage Canaday.
Two men from the Red decided to run in the IC4A Championships at Van Cortlandt. Representing the team were junior Sam Luff and sophomore Steve Soprano, who hoped to pull out one last good race before the season ended.
Luff crossed the line first for the Red, finishing 10th overall in the race with a time of 25:31, 18 seconds behind the first place finisher. The race marked a personal best for him. Soprano finished 48th overall with a time of 26:07.
Canaday, who qualified individually for the NCAA national meet, competed solo yesterday. He finished the 10k race 83rd with a time of 31:00.3. Although missing out on making All-American, he finished 15th among the 38 individuals who had qualified for the race.
Finding motivation from disappointing past meets, the top-8 girls from the Red ran in the Division I ECAC Championships at Van Cortlandt on Saturday. Although not as important a meet as the past two, the Red still went into the race with expectations of performing its best. The team brought home a third place finish overall with a score of 83 points.
“The last two years we’ve won that meet, so it wasn’t what we were hoping for,” said junior Marie Parks on the team’s third place finish.
Sophomore Stephanie Pancoast, who’s been a leading runner on the team this season, finished first for the Red for the fourth consecutive meet. She finished 7th overall with a time of 18:10. Rounding out the top-5 were Parks freshmen Katie Sullivan and Carolina Schultz and sophomore Kerri Lyons. Pancoast and Sullivan were also declared All-East honorees.
“I think they were really happy, they ran really well,” Parks said. “Especially for Katie, it’s very good to be All-East when you’re a freshman. They should be proud.”
Although the team has had a couple of disappointing meets this year, the team is leaving the season looking forward to moving its younger runners into the next season of running and competition.
“I know everyone wasn’t pleased with their race, but I think everyone had something good they took out of the season,” Parks said. “I think everyone had at least one meet they were proud of.”