Manhattan University Athletics

ALBANY, N.Y. – On Saturday, the Manhattan College men's and women's cross country teams were in action for the last time before the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championships at the UAlbany Invitational.  Led by an eighth-place finish from Tom Diliberto (Massapequa Park, N.Y.) the Jasper men took fifth overall.  The Manhattan women also placed fifth in the team standings. 

Diliberto completed the 8000-meter course in 25:50.8.  Nick Matson (Clifton Park, N.Y.) grabbed 16^th place in the men's race with a time of 26:08.7, while Amir Khaghani (Bethesda, Md.) was 20^th in 26:12.0.  Christian McLaughlin (Allenhurst, N.J.) had a solid 23^rd-place showing (26:18.2), followed by Chris Orlando (Newburyport, Mass.) (26:27.1) and Joseph Lundberg (Freehold, N.J.) (26:27.5) in 27^th and 28^th.  Nick Adamo (Franklin Square, N.Y.) rounded out Manhattan's top seven with a 41^st-place finish (26:48.9).

Manhattan finished with 94 points in the team standings, which was good for fifth place.  Only one point separated Middlebury (74) and Siena (75) for first place, while third-place Marist ended up just three points behind Siena.

In the women's race, Lisa Fajardo (Brooklyn, N.Y.) was the Jaspers' top finisher.  She ran 5000 meters in 18:32.4 to place 14^th overall.  Lorraine Brancale (Staten Island, N.Y.) finished 18^th in 18:38.4, and Keeley Hogan's (Delmar, N.Y.) time of 18:39.7 was good for 19^th place.  Erin Spadaccini (Wilmington, Del.) was 35^th in 19:07.9, while Alexa Roda (Staten Island, N.Y.) secured 37^th place with a 19:16.2 clocking.  Kaitlyn Smith (Effort, Pa.) (40^th, 19:23.9) and Samantha Manalastas (Smithtown, N.Y.) (45^th, 19:33.4) completed Manhattan's top seven.

The Jaspers collected 123 team points, which put them fifth out of 13 squads.  Host Albany won the women's team title with 30 points.