Club cross country began their championship season at the NIRCA Mid-Atlantic Regional Race, hosted by Lehigh University. This fast course led to multiple personal bests and notable performances for our Delaware athletes.
The women’s 6k began the day with an impressive 10th-place team finish. In addition, out of the top seven girls, four of them set new personal bests. Junior Delaney Oeth led our girls’ team with a respectable time of 25:26. Oeth set a 45-second personal record as well as earned a top 50 spot overall. Freshman Ella Maletta also improved by 30 seconds with her time of 25:39.1. Sophomores Jade Barrett (26:07), Camila Montes (26:13, over a minute PR), and Hannah Heredia (26:19.4) claimed the next three Delaware spots respectively. Junior Margaret Fogarty ran this fast course for the first time and set over a minute personal best of 27:37. The Delaware top seven was rounded out by freshman Ariana DeNicola who finished in 27:51. Following close behind were noteworthy performances, Hannah Pash (27:55) breaking 28 minutes for the first time, senior Natalie Pinto’s racing at NIRCA Regionals for the last time, and junior Leah Goodman (27:57) following close behind setting a small personal best.
The men’s 5th-place finish in the 8k race resulted in impressive individual performances. They also qualified for the championship race as a team at NIRCA Nationals. The top five Delaware athletes had a remarkable average time of 27:39 setting them up for success in the upcoming championship race. Leading the Delaware men was sophomore Matthew Kwiatkowski finishing 23rd overall in 27:13. Kwiatkowski also earned the eighth spot on the Lehigh course club performance list. Close behind was sophomore Evan Diefenbeck finishing in 27:22.1 and barely claiming the ninth spot on the performance list. Setting a new personal best and taking the third spot for Delaware was sophomore Brady Sheaffer with a respectable time of 27:33. Sophmore Alejandro Lobo (27:51) finished fourth for our team going below 28 minutes. Graduate student John Papadopoulos (28:18), and senior Daniel Giron (28:48) took the fifth and sixth scoring spots. Finishing one second later and rounding out the top seven was graduate student Chris Calandra (28:49). An honorable mention for the following five Delaware finishers (Brett Balthis, Dave Kelly, Jack Pelczar, Evan Pawlik, and Anthony Stohr) all setting personal bests and breaking the 30-minute barrier for the first time.
Delaware club cross country will finish their seasons strong and head to Shelbyville, Indiana on November 11th to compete at the NIRCA Cross Country National Championships.
Full results can be found here.
