THROGGS NECK, N.Y. (Oct. 19, 2009) – The Maritime men's cross country team won its second Invitational of the year on Sunday on a cold and windy day at Van Corlandt Park in the Bronx. The Privateers scored 57 points to outdistance the field of 10 teams at the Hunter Invitational. The team also won the Baruch Invitational last month. Maritime was led by freshmen Luke Milano (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh) (3rd) and Sam Rainard (Wheaton, Md./Our Lady of Good Counsel) (7th). Senior Gannon O'Brien (Traverse City, Mich./Traverse City Christian) (15th), freshman Pat Evans (Saint James, N.Y./Smithtown East) (19th), senior Vince Curcio (20th), sophomore Tom Moskowitz (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) (22nd), and freshman Kevin Regan (Green Brook, N.J./Watchung Hills) (34th) rounded out the scoring for the Privateers.
"The windy and rainy conditions on Sunday were pretty brutal on an already tough Van Corlandt Park course", said head coach Jim Driscoll. "Three of our top five runners sat this meet out, but the guys that did run picked up the slack. We will now turn our attention to getting ready to run our best race of the year at the Skyline Conference meet on Nov. 1."
The Privateers received some good news on Sunday when tri-captain Lee Shoemaker (Mt. Wolf, Pa./Northeastern) ran the warm-up for the Hunter meet without any pain. The warm up represented the first time the All-Conference runner has run in four weeks as he recovers from a stress fracture he suffered earlier in the season. "We'll run Shoemaker easy this week and see how he feels", said Driscoll. "If he is in any pain whatsoever, we won't run him in the conference meet. I know he wants to run, because that's the type of competitor he is, but we'll take it day to day. He won't run in the final meet of the regular season next week at St Joe's, but if he can make it through the next two weeks pain free, we'll see about conference. Even if he can't break into our top 5 after such a long lay-off, his leadership, along with that of our other two senior captains, O'Brien and Curcio, will make a difference at conference."
The Privateers will complete the regular season next Saturday when they travel to Sunken Meadow State Park on Long Island to compete in the St. Joseph's Invitational."The top three teams in the Skyline Conference (Farmingdale State, defending champion St Joseph's, and Maritime) will be at that meet", noted Driscoll. "We will get a good read on where we stand going into the Conference meet the following weekend." The women's race will start at noon and the men will go off at 1 p.m.
Hunter Invitational (8000 meters)
1. MARITIME 57
2. Hunter A 86
3. Hunter B 86
4. Goldey Beacom 88
5. NYCCT 115
6. Baruch 132
7. York 163
8. Yeshiva 180
9. CCNY 219
10. St Joe's (Brooklyn) 266
Maritime Runners
3. Milano 30:13
7. Rainard 31:14
15. O'Brien 31:59
19. Evans 32:19
20. Curcio 32:29
22. Moskowitz 32:42
34. Regan 34:13
37. Berntson 34:41
54. Efros 38:13
83 runners finished
