BROOKVILLE, N.Y. – Rutgers cross country claimed a team win on the women’s side as Alex Carlson, Sofia Condron and Rylee Ferretti took the top three spots at the LIU Fall Festival on Saturday. The men’s squad finished second overall, guided by three top-10 individual finishes.
“Overall they did a nice job,” said head coach Matthew Jelley. “This was a weekend where they had to face a lot of adversity and disappointment with travel issues. The group was able to regroup mentally and focus on the opportunity. We worked on race plans, executing strategy and they took some important steps forward.”
The Scarlet Knights were originally scheduled to compete at the Badger Classic in Wisconsin, however, inclement weather caused flight cancellations and the team instead traveled to the LIU campus. The Badger Classic was held at the Zimmer Course which is the site of the Big Ten Championships in Oct.
“Alex ran a strong race to open her season and helped in the first half to pace Sofia and Rylee,” added Jelley. “The men worked on running as a pack and did a great job finishing in clusters with Ryan, Brian and Micah finishing 7-8-9 and Billy, Zeb and Jack finishing 11-12-13. They took steps today that will help us be more successful as the season progresses.”
All five scorers on the women’s squad posted top-10 finishes. Carlson, an All-Mid Atlantic Region honoree, made her season debut on Saturday and won the 5k race in spectacular fashion. She recorded a time of 17:41.37 to claim the title and outpace the entire field by nearly a minute.
Condron followed in second place with a time of 18:35.53, while Ferretti secured the top three spots for RU with a time of 18:37.24. Rounding out the scoring for the Scarlet Knights was Emma Baeyens who took sixth with a time of 19:12.61 and Lorena David in eighth with a time of 19:20.86.
On the men’s side, Ryan Mitchell, Brian Pedretti and Micah Lawson led the pack as the Scarlet Knights placed seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively. Mitchell completed the 8k course in 26:06.98, followed by Pedretti with a time of 26:08.86 and Lawson in 26:08.94.
Billy Clewell finished 11th in 26:14.25, while Zeb Hinker took 12th in 26:16.41 to close out the scoring for the Scarlet Knights.
Rutgers cross country will return to action on Saturday, Sept. 30 for the 49th running of the…
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