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(10/07/14 4:39pm)
It had been raining all morning in Bethlehem, P.A., and there were more than 5,500 runners in town that day. They had converged on Lehigh this past Saturday, Oct. 4, for the school’s annual Paul Short Run, a mammoth cross country meet encompassing more than 400 teams from all three NCAA divisions, with even high school teams participating.
The runners, however, were worried about the potential for mud.
Runners from the College were equipped with one-half inch spikes on their shoes when they would normally use one-fourth inch spikes, according to junior Carly Martz. But the effect of the mud turned out to be minimal.
“We were prepared for lots of mud, but it really wasn’t that bad,” Martz said.
“We got lucky, because the rain stopped right before our race,” sophomore Andrew Tedeschi said. “The course was not too muddy, either.”
Martz and Tedeschi led the women’s and men’s teams to ninth and 20th place, respectively. Martz finished 33rd out of 357 runners with a time of 22:36, and Tedeschi finished 41st out of 341 runners with a time of 25:52.
Behind Martz, in 68th place with a time of 22:55, was senior Tara Nealon. She was closely followed by senior Megan Stack, who finished 74th with a time of 22:58. Senior Jillian Manzo came in 86th with a time of 23:07.
Sophomore Laura Straub placed 106th with a time of 23:18. Freshman Allison Fournier finished the race with 23:38, a time that placed her in 136th and broke her personal record. Rounding out the top seven was senior Liz Johnson in 141st place with a time of 23:40.
On the men’s team, sophomore Brandon Mazzarella finished 93rd with a time of 26:18. Senior Jeremy Garrell finished 117th with a time of 26:29. Senior Andrew DeMaria and sophomore Kevin Scott finished within seconds of each other, as well. DeMaria took 150th place with a time of 26:51, and Scott took 154th place posting a time of 26:55.
Freshman Dale Johnson came in 188th place with a time of 27:16 and twelve seconds behind him, while senior Patrick Waite took 201st place.
Large races like the Paul Short can be a challenge to runners – it’s not uncommon for teammates to be split up or get caught up in a cluster of runners and not be able to advance. To improve their chances of getting ahead, the runners try to get in a good position from the starting line.
The women’s team knew they would be split up, but assistant coach Marina Muncan told them to remain relaxed, Martz said.
Martz used the ribbons every woman Lion wore in her hair as points of reference. This practice helped her a great deal in the beginning of the race, Martz said.
But the runners did not let this stop them, as many relished in the competition.
“I was excited, because you have some of the best girls in the country running right alongside of you,” Martz said.
Tedeschi said he enjoys large races because “there’s always someone to run with and someone to catch.”
(09/24/14 6:17pm)
Both the men’s and the women’s cross country teams won their respective races at the Richard Stockton-hosted Osprey Open this past Saturday, Sept. 20.
Sophomore Andrew Tedeschi led a pack of Lions, including freshman Dale Johnson and junior Scott Savage to the finish line. The group stuck together throughout the 8,000 meter race and led the College to a first-place victory out of 12 schools.
“Go as a group. We always run in packs. So when one member speeds up, so does the group,” Tedeschi said.
Savage took third with a time of 26:18.24, and Johnson took fourth at 26:22.33 with a rogue Molloy runner, Conor Gallagher, taking second. Gallagher’s nearest teammate was in 12th place and nearly a minute behind him.
Tedeschi lauded freshman Johnson for keeping up with the older team members.
“Johnson had an awesome debut in the 8K,” he said. “He is going to be a great runner.”
The Lions pack broke up a number of other groups running ahead of them – packs of runners from Molloy and Stevens Institute finished farther apart as Tedeschi and his teammates pushed through.
Tedeschi, Johnson and Savage weren’t the only College runners that ran a good race though. Sophomore Brandon Mazzarella took fifth with a time of 26:23.24, and senior Jeremy Garrell also ran a good race, according to Tedeschi, coming in eighth with a time of 26:47.95.
Junior John Stouber and junior Tyler Grimm took ninth and 11th place, respectively, with times of 26:48.86 and 27:00.17.
Freshmen Dan Apicella, Anik Chattopadhyay and Brett Michelini also debuted on the 8K.
The women’s team also won first place out of nine schools in their 6,000 meter race with a strong pack of runners in the lead.
The College had seven runners in the top 10 — senior Alyssa Silver took 10th with a time of 24:07.48. Seniors Jillian Manzo and Tara Nealon took fifth and sixth, respectively, with times of 23:14.70 and 23:24.75. Senior Liz Johnson and sophomore Laura Straub took seventh and eighth, respectively, with times of 23:34.23 and 23:42.88.
Taking second was senior Megan Stack, who clocked a time of 23:06.66.
Junior Carly Martz was the leader, taking first with a time of 22:46.40.
“Last year, I never broke 24 minutes (in the 6K),” Martz said, “I knew I could beat that time this year, but I wanted to smash it.”
Martz wasn’t the only one who “smashed” her personal record this weekend. According to Martz, Silver, Straub, Johnson and junior Kayla Glynn, who finished the race 13th with a time of 24:30.45, all set new personal records in the 6k on Saturday.
Freshmen Krissie Gaffney, Allison Fournier, Sarina Sokoloff and Nina Paranjpe and sophomore Caroline Moore debuted on the 6K this weekend, setting the personal records they hope to break in future 6K’s.
“(Breaking a personal record is so rewarding,” Martz said, “You work so hard every day for months and months just to take off a few seconds from your time, but when you do, it’s the best feeling in the world.”
(09/09/14 7:57pm)
The Van Cortlandt Park cross country course starts off with just under a mile of flat fields before winding into a copse infamous for its hill-ridden terrain, ending in a straight shot for the finish line.
The Lions had to run this course at the Fordham University Fiasco this past Saturday, Sept. 6.
“It’s one of the toughest courses I have ever run on,” said Andrew Tedeschi, sophomore and last week’s NJAC Runner of the Week of the five-mile course.
Despite the challenge, Tedeschi placed third out of 87 runners from Division II and Division III schools with a time of 27:40.22, earning the College a first place slot in the rankings.
Two other Lions broke into the top ten — junior Scott Savage took fifth, posting a time of 27:48.00, and sophomore Brandon Mazzarella took seventh with a time of 28:00.18.
Tedeschi praised Savage and two other teammates — junior Michael Olivola, who came in 22nd with a time of 28:52.93, and senior Jeremy Garrell, the 24th placed runner with a time of 29:01.83 — stating that they “stayed really tough throughout the whole course.”
Other well-performing Lions also included senior Andrew DeMaria and junior Tyler Grimm, the 11th and 14th runners to cross the finish line, respectively. DeMaria posted a time of 28:16.36 while Grimm crossed at 28:26.53.
The women’s team also found success among the slopes of Van Cortlandt Park, placing second overall out of the Division II and III schools and boasting an impressive 32-second spread between the College’s top five runners.
Sophomore Carly Martz led the pack. She got into position in the stretch before the woods, ran the hills as well as she could, then overcame her forerunners one at a time in the final stretch.
“I felt like I had enough in me to put in a decent kick, so I focused on catching as many girls as I could,” Martz said.
The effort earned her seventh place of 113 runners and a time of 20:00.56 in the 5K run.
Also within the 32-second spread was sophomore Laura Straub, who crossed 10th with a time of 20:10.64.
She was followed by senior and last week’s NJAC Runner of the Week Tara Nealon, who took the 11th spot with a time of 20:11.21, and senior Megan Stack, who took 12th with a time of 20:17.56.
Rounding out the pack of five was senior Liz Johnson in 17th place, posting a time of 20:32.46.
The weather also proved to be a factor Saturday. While summer conditioning, a layer of clouds and a canopy of leaves helped the runners avoid being overwhelmed by the heat, as the humidity was staggering.
“It’s always tough to run in the heat because you become tired more quickly and breathing can be difficult, especially with humidity,” Stack said.
Tedeschi described the air as so “thick” and lamented that he and his teammates were “covered in sweat after the race.”
Despite the heat and the hills, the Lions still kept a positive attitude.
“With all the tough hills and the heat,” Tedeschi said, “(Saturday) proved how strong our team is.”
(09/02/14 7:48pm)
The men’s and women’s cross country teams started off the season strong at the Blue/Gold Invitational, a 5K event hosted by the College this year, on Saturday Aug. 30.
Senior Tara Nealon took third with a time of 19:17.00, only two seconds behind her forerunner from Rider, one of two Division I schools at the meet. The other school was St. Joseph’s University.
This was in addition to the women’s team having six other runners in the top ten, four of them being ties. Seniors Jillian Manzo and Liz Johnson tied for ninth with a time of 20:05.00. Freshman Allison Fournier and senior Megan Stack tied for seventh with a time of 19:55.00.
“Overall, I think that everyone had a great performance at our season opening meet,” Stack said. “We have been training all summer to prepare for this season, and I think that we are off to a strong start.”
Sophomore Laura Straub crossed the finish line sixth with a time of 19:45.00 and her teammate, senior Carly Martz, crossed fourth with a time of 19:27.00.
“Both of those programs have very talented runners and it was really cool to get out there and see some good competition,” sophomore Andrew Tedeschi said. “It’s always fun to race against some Division I programs because it gives us a chance to show them how good some Division III schools are.”
The men’s team fared just as well as the women’s team, with the Lions holding six of the top eleven spots in the race. Tedeschi ranked second out of 48 runners in the event with a time of 16:08.00.
Senior Andrew DeMaria tied for 10th with Mike Pionnola from Rider University with a time of 16:23.00. Sophomore Brandon Mazzarella and juniors Scott Savage and Roberto Guiducci came in ninth, eighth, and sixth place respectively, with Guiducci tying with Rider runner Daniel Belay for sixth.
Two seconds behind Tedeschi was freshman recruit Dale Johnson, earning third in his first ever race for the College. Both Stack and Tedeschi praised the freshmen recruits’ ability to adapt to college cross country.
“Transitioning from high school to college running can be a tiresome and nerve-racking process,” Stack said. “However, the freshmen on our team have all been doing a great job with this transition, and I am proud at how confident they were during their first collegiate race.”
Tedeschi said the freshmen are “adjusting really well to the harder training.” College runners have nearly twice the amount of mileage compared to high school runners – high school runners do 40-50 miles per week whereas college runners do 70-90.
Alumni from Rider, St. Joseph’s and the College were allowed to compete at the event as well. Stack, being a senior, was on the same team as many of these alumni over the course of her collegiate running career.
“It is always nice to see how many alumni come back to show their support for TCNJ’s cross country team,” Stack said.
(08/26/14 8:05pm)
Both the women’s and the men’s cross country teams return this season as champions of the modestly-sized New Jersey Athletic
Conference (NJAC). It was the women’s team’s 28th overall NJAC title and the men’s team’s 20th consecutive NJAC Championship win. But the Lions have their sights set on something far greater than paltry local success in a conference of ten schools.
“You can’t compare NJACs to Nationals — Nationals is every team’s goal in the country,” said sophomore and 2013 All-NJAC First Team member Andrew Tedeschi. “Although winning the conference is nice, it should not be our season’s main focus. Nationals is our endpoint.”
Nationals, or the NCAA Championships, brings together the fastest schools in Division III to compete against one another, a spectacle in which any runner would dream to take part.
To get in, schools must run a gauntlet of races. The best in each Conference get to go to a Regional event, and the top two in that event get to Nationals. But there are also wildcard bids which can send the best in each region not in the top two to Nationals.
Last year, the women’s team got into Nationals on one of these wildcards, earning the school 31st place at the event.
Of the seven, senior Tara Nealon ran the fastest with a time of 22:29.2, earning 55 points for the College overall. Nealon and four other NCAA runners — seniors Megan Stack, Liz Johnson and Jillian Manzo, and junior Marissa Lerit — are running again this year.
Nealon and Stack were selected for the All-NJAC First Team last year while Manzo made the Second Team.
The 2013 season was the womens’ strongest season since 2008, the last time the team had been to Nationals.
The men’s team made it to the NCAA Atlantic Regionals where 39 different schools participated. The top two in the region get an automatic bid for Nationals.
The Lions came in 8th place with a score of 252 points. Tedeschi was the top Lion in that event, finishing 30th out of 275 runners with a time of 25:50.2.
“Personally, my goals are to improve my times significantly from last season, become an All-American and make my teammates the fastest they can be,” Tedeschi said.
Despite the wildcards, Tedeschi hopes his team will make top two this year at Regionals.
Six of the seven runners that went to regionals, including Tedeschi, are returning. The others are sophomore Alex Cary, senior Andrew Wilson, junior Andrew DeMaria, junior Tyler Grimm and sophomore Kevin Scott.
The male Lions also boast a talented regiment of freshmen recruits, according to Tedeschi.
“We have recruited a talented freshmen class,” he said. “I have no doubt that they will contribute enormously to this team.”
(04/22/14 4:00pm)
Both the men’s and women’s track teams achieved great success this past week, with much of it occurring at the Larry Ellis Invitational — a large meet hosted by Princeton University with plenty of schools on Wednesday, April 16, and Thursday, April 17, in which junior James O’Connor took part in a decathlon.
Decathlons, heptathlons and pentathlons belong to a section of track and field events called a multi, in which one athlete partakes in several events.
“Out of all of them, the decathlon is without a doubt the hardest,” O’Connor said. “I continue to do them because I love how they aren’t like any other event in track and field.”
Of the 10 events, O’Connor took first in the 1,500-meter run and second in the high jump.
At the Morovian College-hosted Greyhound Invitational in Bethlehem, Pa., a team of four Lions comprised of sophomore Jake Lindacher, senior Scott Lisa, freshman Zach Hubner and senior Michael Spekhardt triumphed in the 4x100 relay with a season-best time of 41.91 seconds.
“I led off the relay, and all I remember is handing the baton off to Lisa in the lead and watching that lead get bigger and bigger every step of the way,” Lindacher said. “That is one fun part about leading off: doing your part and then watching the team win.”
That time is also the 13th highest registered during this past weekend.
Hubner also took part in the 200-meter and 400-meter runs. He placed second in the 200-meters with a time of 22.29 seconds and placed third in the 400-meters with a time of 48.96.
On the women’s team, sophomore Marissa Lerit had an especially exciting win in the 5,000-meter event, beating Peggy Lai from Lehigh University by a mere 0.3 seconds with a time of 18:30.59.
“Marissa stayed tough during the entire 5k and worked her way up to the front from the beginning,” senior teammate Anginelle Alabanza said. “She definitely fought back when another runner tried to outkick her in the end and was strong enough to keep ahead of her through the finish line.”
Alabanza also saw success at the meet in the 3,000-meter steeplechase event, in which the current TCNJ Female Athlete of the Week won first place with a time of 11:22.19.
“Personally, this was my first time running the steeple race, and the steeple water pit and competition were perfect for it,” Alabanza said.
Also in the steeplechase was freshman Laura Straub, who finished fifth with a time of 11:54.34.
Many other Lions had their fair share of personal successes at the meet as well.
Sophomore Tyler Grimm won his first college event with a 33:10.72 finishing time in the 10,000-meter run.
Freshman Brandon Mazzarella ran the best he ever has this spring in the 1,500-meter run with a finishing time of 4:00.98, wtih the effort earning Mazzarella first place in the event.
The women’s team saw the same trend.
One example includes junior Megan Stack, who ran her fastest time this season in the 1,500-meter run, placing second with a time of 4:46.15.
Another is Katelyn Ary who got the 15th best time in the country registered this past weekend with a time of 1:03.63, earning her third place at the meet itself.
“The majority of the team made new personal records this weekend,” Alabanza said.
The Lions hope to qualify for nationals in the long run.
“The way coach Lindsey prepares us, both physically and mentally, is to compete at the highest level possible,” Lindacher said. “And for us, that is nationals.”
(03/04/14 6:00am)
The College’s track team did well at the New Jersey Athletic Conference championships on Saturday, March 1, with the men’s team coming in first place for the 17th year in a row on 196 points and the women’s team coming in second with 191 points, just four points shy of first-place Rowan University.
“Everyone came ready to compete at a high level and did just that,” sophomore Jake Lindacher said.
The night was highlighted by amazing performances from Lions on both the men’s and women’s teams.
“We knew it was going to be close in the end, but we all left everything on the track and in the field,” senior Megan Flynn said.
Twenty-nine of the women’s 191 points were earned in just one race: the mile run.
Junior Tara Nealon, senior Anginelle Alabanza, junior Megan Stack and senior Sarah Polansky took first, second, third and fourth, respectively — an impressive feat considering each school can only enter four athletes per event.
According to Flynn, Nealon led for the entire race, while Alabanza and Stack managed to pass Ramapo’s Lindsey McKee in the subsequent laps to get into second and third, respectively. In the last lap, Polansky snatched the fourth-place spot from McKee, earning the Lions a sweep.
“Going into the last lap, everyone was screaming for Sarah to pass this girl, and she went by her with 150 meters left in the race,” Flynn said.
Nealon and Alabanza also finished one after the other in the 3,000-meter. Nealon got first place and boasted a time of 10:28.27, while Alabanza came in second with a time of 10:33.69.
The triple jump event also saw multiple Lions take top spots. Sophomore Brigit Roemer and senior Erica Roberts took first and second place, respectively, with ECAC-qualifying distances of 11.04 and 10.97 meters.
Roemer and Roberts also did well in the long jump with ECAC times, as Roberts’s 5.51-meter distance earned her second place and Roemer’s 5.17 meter jump earned her third place.
Flynn met ECAC standards as well, getting second in the 5,000-meter with a time of 18:29.76 minutes.
The men’s team also had multiple athletes in the winner’s circle of a single event. Freshman Brandon Mazzarella, named NJAC Rookie of the Week five times this season, and senior Dominic Tasco took first and second place, respectively, in the 800-meter, earning the men’s team 18 points.
Senior Scott Lisa, another five-time NJAC athlete of the week, toppled his competition in the long jump with a distance of 6.99 meters and also in the high jump with a height of 1.98 meters.
The College dominated in two other field events as well. Junior Jamie LeRoy placed first with a heave of 14.90 meters and senior Juan Giglio placed first in the pole vault with a height of 4.55 meters.
Lindacher took first place in the 60-meter hurdles with an ECAC-qualifying time of 8.33 seconds, a personal goal, he said.
“Coming into the meet with a chance to do that, I knew I had to capitalize on that opportunity,” Lindacher said.
Lindacher also got second in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.11 seconds.
The men’s team has won first place at the NJAC Championships since the event’s inception in the 1997-1998 season.
“Everyone on the team knows about the streak,” Lindacher said. “But we try not to concern ourselves with it too much.”