white clay

Cross Country Tackled Their Home Course at the Delaware Invitational

leahgood

The Delaware club cross country team traveled up the road to White Clay Creek State Park to race on their home course. Our women placed 5th overall and the men placed 3rd despite some tough competition.

The women started the day with their 5th place finish in the 6k. Sophomore Camila Montes displayed her talent finishing first for the Delaware women with a time of 27:26. Shortly behind was fellow sophomore Jade Barrett finishing within the Delaware top seven again with a time of 27:41. Freshman Ariana DeNicola (28:18) and Kate Kershaw (28:37) worked together to take the 3rd and 4th Delaware spots. Finishing close behind were juniors Margaret Fogarty (28:52) and Leah Goodman (28:59) finishing just under 29 minutes. Exactly a minute later was junior Hannah Pash (29:59) breaking 30 minutes and completing the Delaware top seven. Following close behind was senior Natalie Pinto with a time of 30:01.

The men followed with a third-place finish in the 8k. Sophomore Evan Diefenbeck was in a familiar position leading the Delaware pack with a respectable time of 28:11. Fellow sophomore Matthew Kwiatkowski broke the 30-minute barrier finishing close behind at 28:21 and taking the second scoring spot. Sophomore Dave Kelly (30:15) led a Delaware pack with senior Daniel Giron (30:29) and junior Brett Balthis (30:44) working together to claim the next three spots. Sophomore Evan Pawlik (30:59) earned the sixth Delaware spot, and graduate student Anthony Stohr rounded out the top seven with a time of 31:11.

After racing at hilly White Clay, Delaware looks forward to a flatter Lehigh course for NIRCA Regionals on October 21st.

Full results can be found here.

Diefenbeck about to cross the finish line.
Barrett attacking the hills.

Women Place Top 3 and Men Win on Their Home Course

rlaz

Delaware club cross country made the short trip up to White Clay Creek State Park to host the Delaware Invitational. Along with the University of Delaware Women’s Cross Country team, the teams face the grueling course in a battle to defend their home turf.

The women started off the day with a third place finish in the 6k. Freshman Jade Barrett returned to competition, once again leading the team with a time of 26:37.83, placing 16th. The tandem of junior Jenna Mlecko (27:07.02) and freshman Kaitlyn Burke (27:21.59) took the final two podium spots for Delaware, both finishing in the top 20 overall. Freshman Hannah Heredia finished close behind them, finishing 23rd place in 27:35.9. Junior Natalie Pinto (28:28.54), freshman CJ Williams (28:35.32), and senior Madeleine Dorley (28:53.82) came in with back-to-back-to-back finishes to complete Delaware’s top seven. 

The men followed with a first place finish in the 8k. Senior Alex Horgan had complete control of the race, winning the whole meet with a time of 26:49.76. His time puts him above Mike Durkin for 5th place on the Delaware Club Cross Country leaderboard for the White Clay course. Freshman Alejandro Lobo (29:05.04) also cracked the top ten with a 10th place finish, followed closely by fellow freshman Evan Diefenbeck (29:15.62), who finished 11th. Rounding out the scoring five was junior Dan Giron (30:33.14) and senior Chris Calandra (30:41.01) in his first 8k of the season. Senior Sasha Latina followed with a time of 30:56.84, and freshman Brenden Debrosse cracked the top seven for the first time with a personal best 31:42.37.

Delaware’s sights now are pointed to NIRCA Regionals at Lehigh on October 29th, where they will try to qualify as a team for nationals.

Full results can be found here.