Cross Country Finishes Strong in New York Invitational Meet

Both the men’s and women’s cross country teams went the distance Saturday at the NYU Invitational. The women’s team finished the meet in second place, and the men’s team placed sixth overall.

Leading the Cardinals over the finish line for the third straight week was freshman Katie Sacker. Clocking in at 20:03, her time was less than a second behind the third place finisher, earning her fourth place overall. Senior captain Jenna Hackett also placed in the top ten for Catholic, clocking in at 20:38 for a ninth place finish.

Senior Mary Shashaty and junior Remy Ball finished the race as a pair, coming in thirteenth and fourteenth, respectively.

Racking up only 62 points, the Cardinals finished second overall, just behind Vassar College who scored 46.

Sacker attributed the team’s strong performance on Saturday to the strategies they work on at practices. “During practices, we think of strategies to stick together during the races,” said Sacker. In addition to pushing each other physically, Sacker admitted pushing each other mentally to be a key component to their success. “Everyone is very encouraging on the team. We don’t really compete against each other…we encourage each other,” said Sacker.

Yet while she finds herself fitting in with the team, her talent naturally has set her apart from the pack. After her consistently strong performance for the Cardinals, Sacker’s fresh talent was recognized when she was named ‘player of the week’ on Monday. “It’s really exciting and very rewarding,” said Sacker.

As for their upcoming meets, Sacker cited Susquehanna, Juniata and Moravian as the team’s greatest competitors in the conference this season.  

On the men’s side, senior Paul Santuoso was the frontrunner for Catholic yet again, running a 16:58 race that earned him a nineteenth place finish. Next over the line was junior Andrew Smith with a time of 17:28, followed immediately by sophomore Kris Reynolds who clocked in at 17:29.

Their overall performance earned Catholic 163 points, which translated to a sixth place finish out of 10 teams. Hosting team NYU dominated the meet, earning 26 points.

  “I think we are capable of much more than what we have done so far,” admitted head coach Mark Robinson.  ”But the team is right on track, and the top 3 [runners] in particular are progressing quite well.”

While Robinson cited Susquehanna, Scranton, Moravian and Juniata as the main competitors for Catholic, it’s still anyone’s race. “I think in general the meet is wide open this year,” said Robinson.  ”But we will get a better idea when we go up against the entire league on October 11.”

Both the men’s and women’s teams will compete at the Belmont Classics in Philadelphia.

Related posts:

1. CUA Men & Women Win York Cross Country Invitational Men’s Cross Country – After suffering three disappointing finishes, the...
2. Cross Country Picks up High Finishes Both cross country teams turned in another strong performance...
3. Men’s Cross Country Runs to an 11th Place Finish at Shepard Invitational The Cardinals finished 11 out of 14 teams for the...
4. Cross Country Takes 3rd at York Solid performances were given at last weekend's York Invitational by...
5. CUA Women’s Cross-Country Finishes Ninth in NCAA South/Southeast Regionals The women’s cross-country season finished their season last week at...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.