The men’s cross country team finishes seventh at Van Cortlandt

The Iona College men’s and women’s cross country teams competed in the 16th Annual Br. John “Paddy” Doyle Meet of Champions at Van Cortland Park.

The 10th-ranked men’s team finished seventh overall and were led by the duo of junior Alexander Soderberg and senior Leonard Korir. Both harriers were able to place in the top ten for the Gaels on the 8k course.

Soderberg was in the middle of the pack for most of the race, but was able to move all the way up to fourth place crossing the line in 25:14.75. Korir was near the head of the pack for most of the race, but came in 10th place with a time of 25:28.79.

Red shirt freshmen Michael Hickey and Christopher Stogsdill were the third and fourth runners for Iona and placed 50th and 56th respectively. Sophomore Craig Murphy rounded out the scoring for the Gaels and placed 69th with a time of 26:32.84. Juniors Steve Wood and Colin Culhane also raced for the Gaels. Wood ran 27:00.37, while Culhane covered the course in 27:17.40.

Head Coach Ricardo Santos commented on the Gaels seventh place finish by saying, “I was a little disappointed with the men’s seventh place placing, but we did run a lot of our younger guys aside from Alex and Leonard, so it was a good learning experience for the rest of the guys that raced.”

Cincinnati junior Eric Finan was the meet’s individual champion, and was only three seconds short of running a top 25 time in the meet’s history with a time of 24:48.45. Second place runner Glarius Rop of American International was 10 seconds behind Finan.

Even though La Salle did not place a single runner in the top 10, they took home the team title by edging out Penn by 15 points.

On the women’s side, senior Natalie Finnerty was the top finisher for the Gaels.

Finnerty paced herself well throughout the race and was able to move up through the field after she excelled through the back hills of Van Cortland Park. Finnerty ran one of her best collegiate races and was able to cross the finish line in 22:23.38.

Supporting Finnerty’s strong run was graduate student Siobhan Dwyer who finished 27th overall in 23:00.39. Seniors Kristen Peluso and Chelsea Brisman contributed for the Gaels by placing third and fourth on the team. Peluso finished 40th with a time of 23:24.63, and Brisman finished 70th with a time of 23:56.32. Freshman Courtney Veilleux was the final scorer for Iona placing 80th with a finishing time of 24:03.43.

Senior Chelsea Borbolla ran 24:32.72 for the Gaels, while the sophomore pair of Chelsea Hanson and Erin Brady were the other Gaels in the race. Hanson ran 25:04.26, while teammate Brady ran 25:21.44 on the women’s 6k course.

Coach Santos was satisfied with the team’s performance and said, “Overall I think the women’s team did very well in finishing eighth in the meet.  For where we are in our training, it was good to see that things are going well.”

Kentucky sophomore Chelsea Oswald coasted to an easy victory with a time of 21:41.68. Oswald’s victory was pivotal, because the Wildcats scored 62 points, while second place Brown scored 64 points and La Salle was close behind with 65 points.

For the Gaels next race, they will travel to Leigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. for the Brooks Paul Short Run on Friday.

Santos expects to use a few more runners that have not run this season and feels that his team will continue to grow stronger as the season progresses.