Photo courtesy of gobonnies.com
BY: SEAN WALLACE; SPORTS ASSIGNMENT EDITOR
St. Bonaventure’s men’s and women’s cross-country teams each placed 13th out of 14 teams in the Atlantic 10 Championships Saturday at the Elvin R. King Cross Country Course in Cedarville, Ohio.
The men’s team finished with a score of 331 and posted an average time of 25:53, its best in an A-10 Championship meet. The women’s team recorded a score of 426.
Before the meet, Bonaventure finished last in 11 of the past 12 A-10 Championships.
In the men’s 8K race, graduate student Clay Peets, Bonaventure’s first men’s runner to earn Atlantic 10 All-Conference honors, led the men’s team with a time of 24.23.4 and placed 14th. Peets, who finished first in three regular season meets, recorded the best finish and time in program history.
The team’s next top finisher, sophomore Nathan Sikorski, finished 86th in 26:00.9. He placed 30 spots higher than last year.
Finishing with personal bests, juniors Joshua Lopez and William McCarthy placed 89th and 93rd at 26:05.6 and 26:14.4 respectively. Lopez improved by 26 spots from last season, while McCarthy finished 16 spots higher.
Graduate student Drew Carlson rounded out scoring and finished 114th in 26:39.7.
In the women’s 6K race, Freshman Jillian Lozo placed 89th with a time of 23:14.3 and led the women’s team.
Sophomore Miranda Habshi followed, placing 94th in 23:26.7. She placed 22 spots higher than last year.
Beating her previous time by 31 seconds to finish her cross-country career, senior Claire Cuneo placed 108th in at 23:56.2.
Junior Katelyn Wilkes and senior Molly Gipson rounded out scoring, placing 111th and 116th with times of 23:58.2 and 24:17.0.
Loyola University Chicago’s men’s and women’s teams finished first. The men’s team posted a score of 28 and the women finished with 51.
This marks the program’s third sweep of the conference championships in the last four years.
Senior William Sinclair finished second in the men’s race in 23:58.1, followed by junior Jake Phillips, who finished fourth in 24:01.6. Junior Nate Boutin recorded a personal best and finished sixth in 24:04.0. To round out scoring, senior Yusuf Baig and graduate student Hayden Healey finished seventh and ninth in 24:08.2 and 24:11.0 respectively.
All runners earned All-Conference honors.
Senior Roisin Treacy finished second in the women’s race in 20:39.8, followed by junior Bárbara Neiva, who finished fifth in 21:16.5. Graduate student Bethany Graham and sophomore Maggie Powers finished seventh and 18th in 21:21.0 and 21:41.6 respectively. Junior Eileen Seebon rounded out scoring, finishing 19th in 21:45.0.
Treacy, Neiva and Graham earned All-Conference allcolades.
Virginia Commonwealth University’s women’s team placed last with a score of 435, while the men’s team did not participate because they only fielded four runners.
George Washington University’s Michael Boulke, a senior, finished first in the 8K race, in a field of 128 runners, with a time of 23.46.4.
George Mason University’s Ella Semple, a graduate student, finished first in the 6K race, in a field of 126 runners, with a time of 20.26.5.
The season wraps up for both Bonaventure teams at the NCAA Northeast Regionals at the Hopkinton State Fairgrounds in Hopkinton, N.H., on Friday, Nov. 14. Admission is free.
