By Joseph Caruso
Sports Editor
The College’s men's and women's teams finished in fourth and fifth place, respectively, at the Don Cathcart Invitational this past Saturday, Sept. 27 at Salisbury University.
For the men’s team, it has been a dominant campaign thus far, finishing first in each of their first three contests up to this point.
With that being said, the College struggled compared to their previous contests, as they had to deal with high levels of humidity and rain throughout the race, which proved to be difficult to handle.
Senior Nate Kidwell paced all runners for the College, coming in 25th place with a time of 26:58.90. Despite no Lions finishing in the top 24 runners, a team effort saw them grind out a finish in fourth place
Kidwell recently saw himself earn New Jersey Athletic Conference Runner of the Week for his efforts so far in this young season.
Behind Kidwell, sophomore Will Evarts and sophomore Jack Segalla finished in 33rd and 34th with times of 27:36.70 and 27:37.70, respectively.
The College saw two other runners place inside the top 40 of the 8K race, with sophomore Silas Matteson finishing 36th at 27:51.10 and sophomore Anthony Thomas finishing in 39th at 28:06.00.
The rest of the Lions to place were freshman Andrew Scalercio, sophomore Declan Butler, junior Dave Keefe, freshman Francisco Lopez and junior Shea Mantone. The College scored 115 points, placing them in fourth place on the afternoon, finishing just behind Salisbury (33), Navy (34), and Christopher Newport (69).
On the women’s side, they have found similar success in their early season, placing first in their first invitational and coming off of back-to-back place finishes.
It was not smooth sailing for the women’s team either, fighting the same nasty conditions that were trouble for runners all day, as they battled for a fifth-place finish, despite some promising performances from a few freshmen.
In the 6K race, freshman Malissa Morabito paced all Lions, finishing 23rd with a time of 24:01.30. Freshman Mia Zicchinella was the only other member of the College to finish within the top 40, registering a time of 25:09.80.
Morabito took home NJAC Rookie of the Week for her results as the College’s best runner recently, as her freshman season has been excellent thus far.
Trailing the freshman duo of Morabito and Zicchinella was three other lions including freshman Alissa Stumpf, who finished in 51st with a time of 25:46.20, sophomore Ella Feehan at 54th (26:05.50) and freshman Kristen Smerdon right behind her in 55th (26:09.90).
The Lions scored 143 points, placing them a respectable fifth place, finishing behind Navy (24), Christopher Newport (55), Salisbury (67), and Delaware State (117).
The College will aim to return to their dominant ways when they run in the Paul Short Run on Friday, Oct. 3.
