The Iona College cross country team began its season on Aug. 31 by competing in the Marist Invite in Wappingers Falls, N.Y. The Gaels were one of four teams at the meet, along with Marist College, Vassar College and the State University of New York (SUNY) at New Paltz.

The men’s and women’s teams both finished in second place. Marist won both events. The Iona men finished with a cumulative score of 47. The women recorded a total score of 55.

On the women’s side, senior Kirsten Stewart finished in second place in the 5,000-meter run. She clocked in at 19:44.94, 23 seconds behind first place.

Senior Luci McLoughlin finished in fifth place with a time of 21:07.67. Freshman Zoe Wajtech came in three-tenths of a second later to claim sixth place.

Senior Marlene Delices posted a time of 21:54.63, good for 21st place. Rounding out the Gaels’ squad was freshman Kerry Sexton, who finished in 49th place.

In the men’s 5,000-meter race, freshman Thomas McClellan led the Maroon & Gold by finishing in fourth place with a time of 16:44.49. He was nine seconds off the lead.

Also in the top-10 were seniors Nick Lachman and Jimmy Tarsnane. They finished in eighth and ninth respectively. Each posted times under the 17-minute mark.

Coming in 12th place was freshman Ross Wightman with a time of 17:10.99. Freshman Andy Adamovics finished the track in 17:27.44 and placed 20th.

Freshman Justin Middleton and senior Quinn Raseman also ran for the Gaels. They finished in 28th and 31st places respectively.

Both squads return to action on Sept. 21 in the Br. Doyle Meet of Champions at Van Cortlandt Park. The women start running at 9:30 a.m. The men begin at 10:15 a.m.