This past weekend, Geneseo's cross-country teams ran two separate races; the top runners traveled to Canada, while the rest of the squad raced at Roberts Wesleyan College.
Saturday at the 35th Annual Western International in London, Ontario, the men's A team turned in a first place finish in the 10K competition, beating teams from all over New York State and a few from Canada.
Senior Tim Chichester finished third overall in 32 minutes, 24.2 seconds while senior Jesse Berube crossed the line in 32:25.6 for sixth overall. Sophomore Chris Mateer placed 10th in 32:43. Seniors Lee Gabler and Will Haskell finished in 32:48 and 32:53, respectively, placing them in 11th and 14th place overall to complete the scoring runners.
Coach Mike Woods had nothing but positive remarks to sum up his team's performance. "Down here in the states, we don't usually run 10K, we usually run 8K," Woods said. "This was a test for my team's fitness, if they weren't in shape, they would have struggled. I am proud of our performance in this team's first ever 10K competition."
The women didn't find as much success, however, as the A team finished fifth overall. Freshman Marissa Liberati led the way for the Knights as she finished 17th in 18:48.3. Fellow freshman Brigid Heenan broke the tape in 25th place overall in 19:05.0. Graduate student Maggie Morris finished in 19:11.1 for 28th place and senior Erin Marks finished in 33rd in 19:16.6. Liz Montgomery, the second graduate student on the women's team, finished 35th in 19:18.2.
Woods was less animated when referring to the women's performance in Ontario. "I am disappointed in our performance overall," Woods said. "I know we are a better team than what we showed Saturday. At Penn State we performed great, but it didn't carry over to this event. When I talk to the women next, I will talk about how we didn't show up, and how we can improve for our next match."
The men's and women's B teams were also in action as they traveled to Robert Wesleyan on Saturday. The men finished second out of nine teams. Sophomore Nick Pardee placed third in 26:08 to pace the Knights. Freshman Chris Moore and sophomore Ben Peterson were the sixth and seventh harriers to finish, as Moore crossed the line in 26:32, and Peterson followed in 26:38. Senior Tim Kramer was ninth in 26:51 and sophomore David Szymkowiak finished 12th in 27:08 to round out the scoring runners for Geneseo.
The women's second team did nearly as well, placing fifth out of 10 teams. The next meet for both teams will be Geneseo's lone home race of the year on Oct. 3 at Letchworth State Park as the Knights host 27 other teams for the Geneseo Invitational.