Ielfield, Fajardo Finish Big At Paul Short

Bethlehem, PA - Freshman Hali Ielfield (Glenfield, NY / South Lewis) earned a 14th-place finish at the 45th annual Paul Short Run Saturday, September 29, the first Jasper to cross the finish line for Manhattan's women's cross country team.

In her first 6K race of her collegiate career, Ielfield earned a time of 21:06, just two seconds faster than teammate Lisa Fajardo (Brooklyn, NY / Bishop Kearney), who finished in 16th with a time of 21:08 to help Manhattan to a 32nd place team finish out of 41 teams.

Highlights:

• Ielfield was the first Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) runner to cross the finish line in the 6K Gold race, with Marist's Gianna Tedeschi clocking in at 21:38 for third place among MAAC finishers. 
• With her top-20 finish, Fajardo improved on her 60th-place finish in last year's Paul Short Run, where she ran a career-best 20:53.9.
• Ielfield and Fajardo have now earned Manhattan's best finishes in two of the team's races so far this season, after placing second (Fajardo) and third (Ielfield) overall at the 2018 Fordham Fiasco on September 8 in Van Cortlandt Park.
• In 32nd place, the Manhattan women topped nine other teams, including (in order) Albany, Saint Francis University, James Madison, St. Joseph's, Middlebury, Mount Olive, Columbia, Holy Cross, and the College of Charleston. 
• Manhattan's other top finishers included Erin Spadaccini (Wilmington, DE / Padua Academy) in 232nd with a time of 23:35; Keeley Hogan (Delmar, NY / Bethlehem Central) in 243rd with a time of 23:37; Caroline Ferri (Garden City, NY / Garden City) in 258th with a time of 23:54; and Sam Hoagland (Colts Neck, NJ / Colts Neck) in 270th place with a time of 24:30. 
• In the men's 8K Gold race, senior Christian McLaughlin (Allenhurst, NJ / Christian Brothers Academy) earned Manhattan's top finish of the day with a time of 26:08 (171st overall). Teammate Patrick Hennelly (Suffern, NY / Suffern) earned the second-best Manhattan finish of the day in 192nd place with a time of 26:17, just two seconds off his career-best 8K time from last year's Paul Short Run. Senior Amir Khaghani (Bethesda, MD / Walt Whitman) finished in 26:31, good for 213th place and third for Manhattan.
• Ryan Tierney (Staten Island, NY / St. Peter's) was the Jaspers' top freshman finisher with a  time of 26:32 (214th overall). Classmate Benjamin Otis (Albany, NY / Fayetteville-Manilus) clocked in at 26:55 (240th overall), while fellow freshman Dom Boccia (Staten Island, NY / St. Peter's) earned a time of 27:14 for 259th place. Senior Nick Matson (Clifton Park, NY / Shenendehowa) rounded out Manhattan's finishers at 27:45 (277th overall).
• The Manhattan men finished 39th overall. 

Up Next:
Manhattan XC takes on the 2018 Metropolitan Championships at Van Cortlandt Park on Friday, October 12. The women's race begins at 11:00 am, with the men's race starting at 11:30 am.