The Berkeley College New York and New Jersey men's and women's cross country teams participated in the 2014 College of Staten Island Invitational at Clove Lakes Park on Sunday morning. The meet serves as the second race for all four of Berkeley College's cross country units.
Berkeley's New York men's team put forth another great effort, led by the duo of Mattias Lindeborg (19:53, placing 62nd and averaging 6:24 minute miles) and Marc Gonzalez (20:04, placing 63rd and averaging 6:27 minute miles). The Knights earned 15th place out of a scored field of 21 teams. Nicholas Gawron (21:23, averaging 6:53 minute miles) and Majustice Wilson (22:29, averaging 7:14 minute miles) once again took the third and fourth places respectively. Additionally, John Durandisse (24:57, averaging 8:01 minute miles) and Michael Francois (44:18, averaging 14+ minute miles) gave gritty performances. With a strong focus now on the October 4th NJIT Highlander XC Challenge, look for Berkeley's Men's team to continue its climb up the race rankings.
Faced with a very challenging hilly course and hot race conditions, Berkeley's New York women's cross country runners responded with another valiant team performance. Urszula Zych (24:57, placing 52nd and averaging 8:01 minute miles) and Andrea Estacio (25:58, placing 69th and averaging 8:21 minute miles) repeated as Berkeley's one-two punch while freshmen Gabriele de Andrade (33:09, averaging 10:40 minute miles) and Jianny Demorizi (34:16, averaging 11:02 minute miles) continued to show great promise and improvement. With a full squad scheduled for the October 4th NJIT Highlander XC Challenge, Berkeley expects to make its mark in Newark next week. Following meet, New York Head Coach Adam Rosen gave his thoughts.
"What impresses me the most about these student-athletes are their diligent efforts and their will to improve themselves," Rosen said. "They came out today and competed on a challenging course on a humid Sunday morning and truly grinded it out and gave it their best. I am very encouraged by the positive results and I am looking forward the NJIT Highlander XC Challenge this Saturday."
On the New Jersey side, the Berkeley College men put forth a great effort with some solid results. Jeison Martinez put forth his best result of all-time, finishing 48th overall in a field of 173 runners, as he crossed the tape of the 5K race in a time of 19:20.7. William Jimenez completed the course in 20:41.4, a time good for 79th overall, and Sean Smith came in shortly after his teammate Jimenez, as he recorded a time of 20:46.0, good for 81st overall. Finally, it was John Partin finishing the 5K race in 24:19.7 (146th overall).
The NJ women were led by Alicia Morales who was the first Knight to cross the finish line during the 5K race, as she claimed an 89th place finish with a time of 28:05.6. Karina Castillo (30:17.7), Daylin Novoa (35:04.3), and Massiel Porteal (35:14.4) finished 118th, 145th, and 146th, respectively. Following the race, New Jersey coach Michael Lincoln gave his thoughts.
"All of our runners put forth valiant efforts today on what turned out to be a very muggy morning," Lincoln said. "I feel that we approached today's meet with a positive attitude and confidence, and I feel that with each meet under our belts, we'll continue to improve and show what we're made of."
All four Berkeley College cross country squads will return to action Saturday as the teams will participate in the NJIT Highlander XC Challenge. Both the men's and women's races at Branch Brook Park in Newark are scheduled to begin at 11:00am.
