RIVERDALE, NY – The Manhattan College men's and women's took part in the Iona Meet of Champions on a beautiful Friday morning at Van Cortlandt Park. Running against a number of nationally- and regionally-ranked opponents, the Jasper men finished fourth in the team standings. The Manhattan women, meanwhile, placed sixth.
Up first was the 5000-meter women's race. Caroline Ferri (Garden City, NY) led a tightly-bunched Manhattan pack for the second straight week. She finished 17th in 19:26.4. Alexa Roda (Staten Island, NY) also had a strong showing in her first competition of the season, placing 25th in a time of 19:50.5. The next three Jaspers across the line were separated by just over four seconds. Kelly Gorman (South Amboy, NJ) grabbed 32nd in 20:03.0, while Keeley Hogan (Delmar, NY) was 33rd (20:04.1) and Lisa Fajardo (Brooklyn, NY) ended up 35th (20:07.1). Erin Spadaccini (Wilmington, DE), meanwhile, captured 47th place in 20:34.7.
There were 14 teams entered in the race, with the team scoring split among Division I and non-Division I squads. Manhattan was sixth in the Division I standings with 142 points. Towson finished first among Division I teams with 51 points, while Johns Hopkins, the three-time Division III National Champions, was the top squad overall.
On the men's side, Nick Matson (Clifton Park, NY) led three Jaspers in the top 15 for the second consecutive meet. Matson completed the 8000-meter course in 26:20.9 to place 12th overall. He was followed closely by Drew Reda (Matawan, NJ) in 14th place (26:28.4) and Amir Khaghani (Bethesda, MD) in 15th (26:30.2). John Dove (Monroe, NY), meanwhile, grabbed 28th place in 26:56.7. Rounding out Manhattan's top seven were Christian McLaughlin (Allenhurst, NJ) (32nd, 27:08.9), Chris Orlando (Newburyport, MA) (33rd, 27:20.6) and Patrick Hennelly (Suffern, NY) (37th, 27:28.1).
Manhattan earned 101 points in the team standings, the same total as Columbia. However, the Jaspers were awarded fourth place overall because their top finisher (Matson) placed higher than the Lions' No. 1 runner. The Jaspers ended up just two points behind Quinnipiac for third place. Army West Point took the team title after placing five runners in the top six.
“I saw a great effort today,” Head Coach Kerri Gallagher said. “We're looking to translate our training into racing, and we're doing that really well. I'm really happy with the way we approached the race today and the way we executed.”
After competing at Van Cortlandt Park in each of their opening two meets, the Jaspers will travel for the first time this season next Saturday. Manhattan heads to Fairfield for the Fr. Victor F. Leeber, S.J. Invitational.