College Cross Country
Rider at Mid-Atlantic Regional
STATE COLLEGE, PA—The Rider men placed 13th of 23 teams and the Rider women placed a best-ever 15th of 29 teams at the Mid-Atlantic Regional, hosted by Penn State Friday.
“We had a really good day today, with both teams improving on last year's results,” said head coach Bob Hamer.
Last year the Rider men were 14th of 26 and the women were 17th of 29 at the Regional, held at Lehigh.
For the Rider men, senior Anthony Dentino (Sewell, NJ/Washington Twp.) placed 51st of the 156 runners, covering the 10,000m course in 31:24.
“Anthony ran a good strong race,” Hamer said. “He stayed with the lead group for a long time.”
For the Rider women, senior Emily Ritter (Millsboro, DE/Sussex Tech) was 35th, covering the 6,000m course in 21:30 and junior Nicolette Mateescu (Kendall Park, NJ/South Brunswick) was 54th among the 207 runners, finishing in 22:00. Sophomore Megan McGarrity (Philadelphia, PA/Saint Basil) was 68th in 22:14.
“Emily struggled a little bit over the last mile,” Hamer said. “Niky ran very, very well.” Mateescu was 76th of 207 last year. “Meg had the big performance for us today. She did a great job. The first three did a great job.”
Also for the Rider men, senior Derek Lake (Middletown, NY/Pine Bush) was 82nd (32:21), junior Sam Knipper (Randolph, NJ/Randolph) was 83rd (32:23), senior Dylan Hallahan (Wrightstown, NJ/Northern Burlington Regional) was 86th (32:28), senior Nasser Zayer (Staten Island, NY/St. Peter's) was 95th (32:45) and freshman Danniel Belay (Gaithersburg, MD/Gaithersburg) was 97th.
“Those guys all train together and to have them stick together today like the way we try to teach them was great to see,” Hamer said. “There were points in the race where one of the group was having a tough time but the others were feeling good and then someone else would be having a tough time and the others were there to help each other out.”
Also for the Rider women, senior Josephine Boyle (Pleasant Valley, NY/Arlington) was 138th (23:32) and freshman Lexie Taylor (Sewell, NJ/Washington Twp.) was 153rd (23:54). “Today we had a good strong four and five,” Hamer said of Boyle and Taylor, “and that was how we were able to crack the top 15.”
Villanova won the men's race. The Rider men finished ahead Monmouth, La Salle, Temple, St. Francis PA, George Washington, Marshall, Rutgers, Maryland Eastern Shore, Loyola and Seton Hall.
Georgetown won the women's race. Rider finished just behind Maryland and ahead of Delaware, Monmouth, UMBC, St. Francis PA, Loyola, St. Joseph's, Temple, Towson, Lafayette, Seton Hall, Robert Morris, Maryland Eastern Shore, Marshall and NJIT.
The Broncs will complete the season at the IC4A/ECAC Championships, held at Van Cortlandt State Park in the Bronx, NY November 22. “That will be the third leg of the Championship season,” Hamer said, in reference to the MAAC Championships and the Regional. “This is always an exciting race.”
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