Riverdale, N.Y. (September 30, 2006)-Manhattan Men's and Women's Cross Country took to the course at Van Cortlandt Park on Saturday morning for the annual Br. John Doyle Meet of Champions, and both squads pleased their head coach.
"I'm really satisfied with the way both teams ran today," said
Dan Mecca. "Many of our athletes showed me progress and mental toughness on the course."
Freshmen Lindsay Southard and Mary Consiglio were two of the reasons Mecca walked away from the meet with a sense of satisfaction, despite neither side being able to capture a team title. The two freshmen were the Lady Jaspers top two finishers with Southard running one of the best 6K races ever by a Manhattan woman.
Southard completed the course in 22:46.7, a time that ranks amongst the top three in Manhattan women's history for a 6,000m course. Despite having only three collegiate races under her belt, Southard is already way ahead of where the Lady Jaspers' top runner of 2005 was at this juncture in the season. At the same meet last season, Manhattan's top women's time was 23:48, more than a minute more than Southard's. Consiglio, who Mecca deemed a "tough, tough kid," finished the race in 24:16.6 with junior teammate Eryka Perreault right behind at 24:20.9.
Also scoring for the Lady Jaspers, who finished 12 out of 18 teams with a score of 368, were sophomores Lauren Natoli and Julie Carr. Natoli ran 25:47.2 with Carr right behind at 25:55.5. Manhattan held a few key runners out of the race, including freshman Chanel Williamson, who was in the Lady Jaspers' top three during the first two races of the season.
On the men's side, senior
Todd Raymond and junior Joe McElhoney led the Jaspers once again. Raymond completed the race in 26:12.8 to finish 51st out of 172 male entrants, while McElhoney set a new personal record on the 8K course with a time of 26:36.6. The men's third finisher was senior
Chris Breslin at 27:58.2.
McElhoney was not alone in having a career day as three other Jasper runners recorded PR's on the day. Freshmen
Matt Kaftanski (28:08.9) and
Scott Roman (28:09.8) along with sophomore
John Mueller (28:10.0) all set new personal bests and improved significantly since their last time out at the Fordham Invitational two Saturdays ago.
