Men’s and women’s cross country runs to 37th and 31st at NCAA Regional
By Andrew Wuebker
The Roger Williams University men’s and women’s cross country teams completed the 2016 seasons at the NCAA Division III New England Regional Qualifier on Saturday, Nov. 12 at Stanley Park in Westfield, Massachusetts. The men’s team took home 37thplace, while on the women’s side they took home 31st place.
The 8k men’s cross country race hosted 56 different schools and included 384 participants. On the men’s side, junior captain Matt Simonelli had the top finish for the Hawks, finishing at 146th place with a time of a 27:22.24. Trailing behind Simonelli was junior Andrei Safontchik, who finished in 199th place with a time of 28:08.68.
In 235th place was freshman Kyle Wrynn, who logged a time of 28:41.99. Sophomore Nick Sasso came in 242nd place, while logging a time of 28:48.41. Finishing 246th was junior Luke Emby 29:05.31. Senior captain Mikhail Salnikov finished the race at 267th place with a time of 29:13.55. Finally, Senior captain Troy Lange was the last Hawks runner to score with a 311th place finish with a time of 30:21.93.
The men’s team average race completion time was 28:25.33. Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Williams College tied for first place with a low score of 110, but the meet referee gave MIT the win after tiebreakers.
Under Head Coach Sean Livingston, the Hawks finished in the top half of their races in three of six meets. The team loses seniors Salnikov, Lange and Brendan Gillis after this year.
In the women’s race, the lady Hawks faired well like they have for the majority of the season, taking 31st place at the NCAA Division III New England Regional Qualifier.
The 6k women’s cross country race hosted 59 schools and included 406 participants. The top finisher for the Hawks was freshman Sarah Mawdsley, finishing at 97th place in the meet with a time of 23:22.40.
Freshman Hannah Kaplan was the seconds Hawks finisher, placing 160th at 24:13.68. Junior captain Jackie Applan took 179thplace in the meet, with a finishing time of 24:28.93. Junior Brianna Hofner followed at 229th place for the Hawks in 25:12.73. Next, senior captain Erica Koljonen placed 257th on the day with a time of 25:49.28. Lastly, junior Kelsey Novy crossed the finish line at 26:08.45 to earn 287th place.
The women’s team average race completion time was 24:37.41. Massachusetts Institute of Technology earned the first place finish in the women’s race as well. The women’s cross country team loses seniors Koljonen and Liane Riley.
