The 2008 cross country season started out on the right foot for the men's and women's cross country teams as both finished first at the Buffalo State Invitational on Aug. 30.
Head Coach Mike Woods decided to rest his top runners for the first meet of the year.
"I'm proud of the performance of the rest of the squad, especially the freshmen," said Woods about his decision.
The women's squad is coming off a fifth place finish at last year's NCAA Division III championship meet and head into this season ranked fifth overall in a national pre-season poll. They scored 26 points overall, enough to easily outpace the runner-up, SUNY Brockport.
The Lady Knights were led by a first place finish from freshman Alyssa Smith, who finished in 19:56. Fellow freshman Kelly Brunscheen captured second place with a time of 20:02. Yet another freshman, Sam Legere, finished sixth in 20:25, while senior Larkin Kimmerer finished eighth in 20:30. Freshman Ashley Jones completed the scoring five with a ninth place time of 20:30.
The men's team begins the season ranked 18th in the nation after a 22nd place finish at last year's NCAA Division III championship meet. The Knights are also ranked second in the Atlantic region behind long-time rival SUNY Cortland.
They performed just as well as the women's team, scoring 31 points behind a first place finish by freshman Lee Berube who crossed the finish line in a time of 26:11. The next Geneseo runner to finish was junior Josh Kneer who received fourth place in 26:32. Freshman Chris Mateer placed sixth in 26:56, closely followed by fellow freshman Nick Pardee, who crossed seventh in 26:58. Junior Tim Gaulrapp took seventh in 27:28 to round out the scoring five for Geneseo.
The Knights have almost two weeks off before traveling to Pennsylvania State College on Sept. 13 for the Penn State Invitational, a large meet featuring several prominent East Coast Division I teams including Boston College, Iona and Villanova, which should provide a good test of Geneseo's abilities.