POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – Keene State College fifth year
Jake Velazquez (Keene, N.H.) posted his second individual win in as many tries to start the season as the Owl cross country teams competed at the Ron Stonitsch Invitational hosted by Vassar College on Saturday in the Empire state.
After a convincing victory at the KSC Alumni Meet two weeks ago, this time around proved to be no different, as he covered the 6K course in 18:56.2, outpacing Union College's (N.Y.) Ryan Russell (19:08.8) by more than 12 seconds. He is the first Owl runner to win his first two meets of the season since Dave Bridgewater '07 did so in 2004. Fittingly, Bridgewater, an All-American in eight different events across his cross country and track career, was inducted into the Keene State Athletics/Alumni Hall of Fame last night.
Overall, the Owls had four finish in the top 25 in a race that featured 108 runners. Sophomore
Tyler Bolaske placed 11th in 20:12.2 and freshman Ben Tetu 19th in 20:44.3. Sophomore
Griffin Urnezis clocked a time of 20:58.7 to wind up in 25th.
Rounding out the KSC men's contingent was
Jonathan MacQuarrie (40th, 21:44.4),
Nick Terranova (48th, 22:19.9),
Marty Nelligan (50th, 22:21.0),
Alex Labrecque (53rd, 23:02.5),
Tyler Robinson (64th, 24:46.5), and
Ted Rockwell (85th, 28:16.0).
Vassar College won the event as a team with 37 points while seeing all seven of their runners finish in the top 18. Preseason No. 18 New York University placed second with 67 points and Union third with 73 points before KSC came in fourth with 89 points in the 11-team field. One key difference proved to be Vassar having four runners in the top 11, while the following three teams in the standings including KSC all had two each.
It was a solid day for the Owl women on the course, as they ran to a third-place team finish just one behind second place NYU (75 points). Both the Violets (No. 1) and Vassar (No. 22) were ranked in preseason national polls. The host Brewers won the event with all seven of their runners placing in the top 11.
Individually, Keene State had three finish in the top 18 in a 107-runner field, paced by a seventh-place finish by
Maggie St. John in 19:37.1.
Anna O'Reilly finished 16th in 20:07.6 and rookie
Kallie Warner 18th in 20:09. Additionally,
Sarah Ames finished in 27th (20:49.5),
Rita Cummings 28th (20:53.1),
Sara Christian (30th, 21:00.2), and
Aurora Couto (34th, 21:26.2). Rounding out the Owl contingent was
Ava Fortin (43rd, 22:00.4),
Alyssa Edgren (44th, 22:15.6),
Tessa Tanner (49th, 22:40.4),
Autumn Boisvert (54th, 22:58.7),
Jaden Johnson (61st, 23:39.3),
Alana Perry (62nd, 23:46.0),
Maya Wedge (63rd, 23:56.6), Eleni Papadopoulos (65th, 24:36.7),
Sarah O'Connell (73rd, 25:34.4).
Haley Schoenegge took the individual crown for the host Brewers, finishing in 18:47.2, 13 seconds ahead of Catherene Dacy (Union; 19:00.7).
"We faced some really good teams today and it set the tone for the season," said Keene State head coach
Dan Roark. "It is good to get punched in the mouth every once in a while, but I am excited to see how we grow the rest of the season as a team."
Three of KSC's five runners that finished in the top 20 on both sides are either first years or sophomores.
The Owls return to action next Saturday at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth Invitational. The men's varsity race begins at 11:15 a.m. and the women at 12:00 p.m.
