Iona College cross country had a very successful day in one of the biggest meets of the season on Oct. 16. The men’s cross country team was able to finish second overall behind top- ranked Stanford in the Blue Race at the 2010 Pre-National Invitational hosted by Indiana State University. Senior Leonard Korir paced the Gaels by finishing once again in the top 10.

Korir was ninth overall and clocked a time of 23:49 on the 8k course. Graduate students Mitch Goose and Bend Lindsay of England made strong Iona debuts. Goose finished 20th overall in 24:04, while teammate Lindsay was 39th running a time of 24:21.

All-American Alexander Soderberg placed 24th with a time of 24:09, while sophomore Craig Murphy also scored for the Gaels by placing 35th and covering the course in 24:16.

Red Shirt freshman Chris Stogsdill participated in the men’s open race and was 12th overall.

Iona was able to score 127 points for second place, while meet champion Stanford scored 43 points.

On the women’s side, sophomore Marion Joly-Testault was the lone Gael and won the women’s open race in impressive fashion. Joly-Testault was able to take home the individual title by running the 6k course in 21:49 and beating Georgetown’s Rachel Schneider by just under four seconds.

“Marion ran an awesome race in winning the open race.  She ran a much faster time than last year, and the most important thing was that she was patient and ran the race.  When it was time to go she went and didn’t look back,” Head Coach Ricardo Santos said.

With the performance of the men’s team, the Gaels are now ranked first in the northeast and fourth in the nation in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll. Iona only sits behind top ranked Stanford, defending national champion Oklahoma State, and 2008 national champion Oregon.

Santos added, “From Pre-Nats, it shows that we are strong and right there in contention at Nationals.  We do have some work to do, but the way our training is designed we will get what we need and be able to step it up a notch during the championship season.”

While Iona’s top runners raced in Indiana, red shirt freshman Michael Hickey led the other half of the team at the Princeton Invitational. Hickey was 18th overall to lead Iona to a sixth place finish as he ran 25:03.6 on the 8k course. Iona’s second man was sophomore Giovanni Signoretti who was 27th crossing the finish line in 25:12.1. Juniors Steve Wood and Colin Culhane finished 49th and 52nd respectively, while senior Doug Holt finished off the scoring for Iona, placing 66th in 25:48.8.

Meet champion Texas scored a very low 23 points, while Iona scored 174 points for sixth place.

On the women’s side the trio of Senior Natalie Finnerty, and freshmen Kirsten Stewart and Tara Jameson led the way to victory. Finnerty was fourth overall in 22:28 on the 6k course. Stewart was fifth and only three seconds behind her teammate, while Jameson was the third Gael in the top 10 placing ninth and running 22:38.9. Seniors Kristen Peluso and Siobhan Dwyer rounded out the scoring finishing 23rd and 24th respectively.

Iona won the Princeton Invitational by beating out 11 other teams and the Gaels scored 58 points, while second place Columbia scored 80 points.

The Gaels will be looking to win a second consecutive meet and for their conference record sixth straight MAAC Championship at Hammonasset State Park in Madison, Conn., on Oct. 29.