College Cross Country
Rider 5th at MAAC Championships
Three Broncs All-MAAC
HOLMDEL, NJ--Both the Rider University men and women placed fifth of 11 teams at the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championships, held Friday at Holmdel Park.
Iona won both the men's and women's championships.
The Rider men placed third last year for the fifth straight year and the Rider women were fifth last year after placing third in 2012.
“We had higher expectations for the men's team earlier this year,” said Rider head coach Bob Hamer, “but today was the best we've run all year. On the women's side we again had great races from our top three but the gap is just too big back to our four-five-six.”
The Rider men were once again led by senior Anthony Dentino (Sewell, NJ/Washington Twp.), who finished 12th overall in 25:31.29 to earn All-MAAC honors.
“Anthony ran his best race of the year today,” Hamer said, “which was great to see. He ran hard from beginning to end.”
Dentino is now a four-time All-MAAC performer, Rider's first. “To be an All-MAAC performer four times is quite an achievement,” Hamer said.
Dentino placed seventh overall last year, the first non-Iona runner to finish. As a sophomore Dentino placed fifth overall, the only non-Iona runner in the top 10. As a freshman Dentino was 13th overall.
Dentino was also named to the MAAC All-Academic team.
The Rider women were led by a pair of All-MAC performers, senior Emily Ritter (Millsboro, DE/Sussex Tech), who finished a Rider best-ever fourth overall in 21:20.41 and junior Nicolette Mateescu (Kendall Park, NJ/South Brunswick), who placed eighth among the 100 runners in 21:39.54.
“Emily and Niky ran tremendous races,” Hamer said. “Emily's fourth place finish is the highest ever from our women's program so I'm very happy for her. Niky had a great race last year and today she went out and ran a great race. She was right there in a battle for sixth.”
Ritter and Mateescu were also named to the MAAC All-Academic team.
Mateescu earns All-MAAC honors for the second straight year. Mateescu placed ninth overall last year at MAACs.
Ritter missed most of the cross country season last year but has twice been the MAAC Runner of the Week this fall.
Also for the Rider men, senior Nasser Zayer (Staten Island, NY/St. Peter's) placed second among Broncs, 24th overall of the 100 runners in 26:29.6, sophomore Bradley Kaufmann (East Meadow, NY) placed 31st (26:36.43), senior Derek Lake (Middletown, NY/Pine Bush) was 37th in 26:43.29 and freshman Danniel Belay (Gaithersburg, MD/Gaithersburg) was 42nd in 26:55.19.
Also for the Rider women, sophomore Megan McGarrity (Philadelphia, PA/Saint Basil) placed 23rd (22:40.21), senior Josephine Boyle (Pleasant Valley, NY/Arlington) was 57th (24:01.78), junior Stephanie Welte (Philadelphia, PA/St. Basil's) was 59th (24;15.86) and freshman Alexandra Santora (Douglasville, PA/Daniel Boone) was 61st (24:33.82).
Nationally ranked Iona has won the last 25 MAAC Men's Cross Country Titles. The Iona women have now won the last 10 Titles.
Named to the MAAC All-Academic teams were sophomore Phil DeFroscia (Monmouth Junction, NJ/South Brunswick), sophomore Andrew Gordon (Pennington, NJ/Hopewell Valley), sophomore Johnathan Jackson (Roselle, NJ/Magnet), sophomore Salman Khalid (Galloway, NJ/Absegami), junior Jon Knipper (Randolph, NJ/Randolph), junior Sam Knipper (Randolph, NJ/Randolph), senior Derek Lake (Middletown, NY/Pine Bush), junior Tom McLaughlin (Egg Harbor Twp., NJ/Egg Harbor Twp.), sophomore Connor Szwetkowski (Middletown, DE/Caravel Academy), senior Nasser Zayer (Staten Island, NY/St. Peter's), senior Josephine Boyle (Pleasant Valley, NY/Arlington), sophomore Ariana Gagliardi (Hamilton, NJ/Hamilton West), junior Vanessa Rappold (Coplay, PA/Allentown Central Catholic) and junior Stephanie Welte (Philadelphia, PA/St. Basil's).
Rider competes again November 14 at the NCAA Regional, hosted by Penn State. “With three really good individuals up front our women have a chance to place high at this meet,” Hamer said. “On the men's side we have been getting better each week so hopefully that continues at Penn State.”
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