Results: Men | Women
RIVERDALE, NY – The Manhattan College men's cross country team had its best showing at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships in more than a decade on Friday afternoon at Van Cortlandt Park. The Jaspers placed 13th out of 35 squads, their highest finish since taking eighth in 2002. On the women's side, meanwhile, Manhattan was 26th in a field of 37 schools.
At the NCAA Regional meets and NCAA Championships, the men's course is 10,000 meters long, two kilometers further than in regular season meets. Manhattan ran just seven competitors over the longer distance, with John Dove (Monroe, NY) leading the way. He finished 72nd in 32:14.11. Dove was followed by Chris Orlando (Newburyport, MA) in 84th place (32:23.09) and Amir Khaghani (Bethesda, MD) in 85th (32:24.50). Nick Matson (Clifton Park, NY) secured 94th place with a 32:34.48 clocking, and Drew Reda (Matawan, NJ) took 103rd in 32:41.87.
That quintet earned 438 team points, one more than 14th-place Northeastern. Earning berths at the NCAA Championships with top-two team finishes were Syracuse (29), which placed five runners in the top 10, and Iona (65). Syracuse's Justyn Knight was the individual champion (30:30.52).
In the 6000-meter women's race, Lisa Fajardo (Brooklyn, NY) was Manhattan's top finisher. She placed 65th in 21:55.30. Kaitlyn Smith (Effort, PA) was the next Jasper across the line in 131st place (22:42.00). Alexa Roda (Staten Island, NY) captured 150th place in 22:52.90, while Kelly Gorman (South Amboy, NJ) ended up 173rd (23:13.00) and Sam Hoagland (Colts Neck, NJ) took 191st with a 23:28.30.
With 710 points, the Jasper women finished 26th as a team, their highest placement since a 19th-place showing in 2007. Providence (50) and Harvard (71) were the NCAA team qualifiers, while the individual winner was New Hampshire's Elinor Purrier (20:08.70).
There's one meet remaining in the cross country season. The Jaspers will return to Van Cortlandt Park for the ECAC/IC4A Championships on Saturday, Nov. 20.
