The Maritime College men's cross country team picked up a big first place finish at the Fred Pavlich Invitational at Bard College. The women's team added a strong showing of their own by placing 10th.
The men's team was led by a third place finish from junior
Sean Hobson (Old Bridge, N.J./Old Bridge) who recorded a time of 28:22.1, just one second off of second place. However, the deciding factor in the race was the ability of the Privateers middle pack to stay together and string together 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th place finishes.
Alexander Fallon (Brielle, N.J./Manasquan High School),
Curtis Bates (Honesdale, Pa./Damascus Christian),
Marco Rosado (Lajas, Puerto Rico/Academia San Agustin y Espiritu Santo), and Matthew Maidhof were able to pace each other and finish with times of 29:41.4, 29:43.1, 29:45.1, and 30:06.8, respectively.
Placing five runners in the top 20 was better than any other team at the Invitational and helped the Privateers post a score of 61, which was 18 points better than Manhattanville who placed second.
Rounding out the top seven for Maritime was
Kyle O'Brien (Huntington, N.Y./Huntington) and
Christian Berglin (Hampton Bays, N.Y./Hampton Bays), who finished 31st, and 32nd, respectively. The Privateers have continued to improve with each race as they have place ninth, third, and second in their past three races.
On the women's side,
Bethany Champlin (Bronx, N.Y./Saint Vincent) was the first to cross the finish line with a time of 27:02.2 in 19th place. Behind Champlain was senior
Emily Zink (Brockport, N.Y./Brockport) who notched a 37th place finish with a time of 28:15.3. The rest of the Privateers crossed the line between 69th and 99th place. Charolotte Anich tallied 57 points with a time of 30:20.2 while
Jean Colgan (Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Sachem North) was right behind with 64 points and a time of 32:03.8.
Junior
Elizabeth Payne (Villas, N.J./Cape May Technical HS) and
Ekaterina Aaron (Clarence, N.Y./Clarence) crossed the finish line with times of 32:18.9 and 32:45.5 for 68 and 70 points, respectively. Rounding out the top seven for Maritime was
Celine Prenatt (Annapolis, Md./South River) as she notched 73 points with a time of 34:09.3.
The Privateers get back on the trail next weekend at the Mount St. Mary Invitational and it will be their second-to-last meet before the Skyline championships on Oct. 25.
