Nationally-ranked men's and women's cross-country take second at Oberlin

If there is ever a time in the cross-country season to be gearing for the playoffs, a race with over 30 Division III teams would be that time. In the Inter-Regional Rumble, hosted by Oberlin College, the Geneseo men’s and women’s cross-country team’s stepped up against and placed second against the tough field. The 34-team field represented different regions across the country and included numerous nationally ranked teams.

On the men’s side, the Knights, then ranked 19th in the nation, beat out No. 20 Allegheny College and No. 31 University of Rochester but lost to sixth-ranked New York University.

Sophomore Brendan Wortner finished first for Geneseo with a time of 25 minutes, 37.5 seconds, barely edging out co-captain junior Cohen Miles-Rath by a tenth of a second.

This was a performance by Wortner that head coach Mike Woods was excited about.

“He is establishing himself,” Woods said. “He has arrived as a runner.”

Wortner had an “up-and-down” freshman year, as Woods put it, but chalked it up to the differences between high school and college cross-country.

The last three runners among the top five seem to be transitioning into the college ranks smoothly: junior Ryan Moynihan, freshman Alex Kramer and freshman Matt Jorgensen all finished within one minute of each other.

The women fared just as well as the men, but against arguably tougher competition, seeing that every team in the top five was nationally ranked. Geneseo led the field at 10th in the nation but could not beat No. 15 NYU, as two of their runners finished top five overall.

Co-captain junior Cassie Goodman finished first for the Knights, 14th overall, with a time of 22:17.

The highlight of the day came when the fifth runner for Geneseo, senior Mary Aldridge, crossed the finish line with a time of 22:33, just 16 seconds after Goodman. This was the fastest pack Woods has seen.

“It was a historic run for us,” Woods said. “This is 22 years I’ve been coaching, and we’ve never had a pack run under 20 seconds and [finish this well].”

Both teams remained nationally ranked with the men moving up one spot to No. 18 while the women fell one spot to No. 11. Woods, who used to pay little attention to national rankings, said he believes the women should be among the top 10 teams. The women who ran in the open 6K for nonvarsity competitors stacked the top 10, finishing second through sixth and ninth.

The SUNYAC championship race is set for Nov. 2.

Young cross-country team has high hopes

The Geneseo men’s and women’s cross-country teams have a combined 24 straight NCAA appearances, a tradition set by head coach Mike Woods. And after the Daniel Walker Invitational Aug. 30, it’s safe to say the winning tradition is not lost on the freshmen. Woods said he uses the invitational as a warm-up for the newcomers so they can “get their feet wet” to cross-country at the collegiate level, but it seemed more like the freshmen dove head first into their first college meet.

On the men’s side, the Knights claimed nine of the top 12 spots, including first overall. Freshman Matt Jorgensen, who took first place, posted a time of 25 minutes, 55 seconds, beating the second-place runner by 20 seconds.

“He is a legit runner,” Woods said. Jorgensen was Woods’ top recruit, and he said is already proving his worth. “[He will] certainly be in our top seven and possibly the top five before the year is over,” he said.

The spotlight doesn’t solely belong to Jorgensen, as freshman Adam Murphy came in third, just 24 seconds behind Jorgensen. Not far behind Murphy, the next nine Geneseo runners finished within a minute of one another and took seven consecutive spots.

Woods said he wasn’t surprised by the outcome of the meet.

“I knew I had a great recruiting class on the men’s side for freshmen, and now it’s starting to take shape,” he said.

The women’s team performed similarly, earning second, third and fourth in the race and having seven runners finish in the top 12.

Woods said he had nothing but praise for his women runners, most notably for freshman Marissa Bellusci. Woods said Bellusci had a “down” senior year in high school, but that did not stop him from recruiting her. Bellusci finished in second with a time of 19:43.

“Boy, did she look good Friday,” Woods said. “She was running really well.”

Freshmen Ashley Peppriell and Sara Rosenzweig were not far behind, both finishing at 19:46.

It looked as if graduating seven runners from the men’s team and six from the women’s would create a lull in this year’s season, but that does not seem to be the case. Woods said there is a lot of depth in both teams and he is hopeful for more NCAA success.

The next race is not for another two weeks, but Woods said he is not worried about the time between meets. He said the runners really buy into his philosophy of training more and competing less. It allows the team to really “go to the well,” he said, come race day

On Sept. 13, the Knights travel to Pennsylvania State University to compete against top-tier programs and Division I teams at the Harry Groves Invitational. Woods will take the top 20 runners with him, and after their first go at collegiate-level races, multiple freshmen have promising chances to make the roster.