On Saturday October 29, the Colgate men’s and women’s cross country teams gathered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania to compete in the Patriot League Championships, hosted by Lehigh. Both teams placed well at the tournament and saw several impressive individual performances as well. The men’s squad took home 6th place overall at the Championships and emerging junior star Chris Johnson ran a blistering time en route to the individual title. The women’s team made the podium with a third place finish overall, backed by a strong third place individual finish by senior leader Elise DeRoo.

Johnson battled through chilly, snowy conditions on his way to a final time of 24:53.9. While this was by no means Johnson’s fastest time this season, the conditions and competitions made for one of the junior’s more gutsy performances of his collegiate career.

Johnson seemed quite surprised and humbled by taking home the individual title.

“Winning a Patriot League individual title has always been one of my goals, I just thought I would have to wait a little longer until it happened,” he said.

There was a significant gap before another Raider crossed the finish line, with senior Thomas Hedges crossing the line in 26:40.9, good enough for 40th place overall. Junior Tim Phelps was the third Colgate runner in the top-50, placing 45th overall with a time of 26:42.3. Sophomore Everett Stilley and senior Mitchell Boucher placed fourth (53rd overall) and fifth (60th overall) for Colgate, crossing the line in 26:55.7 and 27:23.5, respectively. Navy took home the team title, completing the meet with just 38 points. American University trailed just behind in second place with a total of 49 points. Host Lehigh rounded out the top-3, finishing the event with 78 team points. The Raiders tallied a total of 169 points in the 8-kilometer race.

Johnson noted that the team will be preparing seriously for the upcoming IC4A Championships, while still trying to remain fresh.

“We will run one or two harder workouts this week, but after that we will take it easy and cruise through the final weeks of the season to stay fresh for the IC4As,” Johnson said.

While the women’s team did not have an individual champion, the team finished in a podium spot as a unit, and still was backed by several stunning performances. Senior star Elise DeRoo continued her collegiate success with a third place finish, snapping the tape in just 22:08.5. Fel­low senior Kendall Lyons was the second Raider to complete the grueling course, finishing in 14th place with a time of 23:04.6. First-year Megan Keane placed impressively for a runner with significantly less experience than many other competitions, finishing in 20th place overall with a final time of 23:18.6. Senior teammates Chelsea Burns and Kelly Cattano placed third and fourth for the Raiders, placing 22nd and 45th overall, respectively. Burns snapped the tape in a solid 23:20.3, while Cattano was able to complete the course in a decent 23:58.3. Navy took home first place at the meet with a total score of 53 points. Bucknell finished just behind in second place with 56 points, while the Raiders amassed 98 points en route to their third-place finish.

The women’s squad will hit the course next on November 12, when they will compete in the NCAA regional qualifier held in Buffalo, New York. The men’s team will also have a week off be­fore their next competition on November 12. The group will travel to Van Cortlandt Park, New York for the IC4A Championships.

Contact Matt Flannery at [email protected].