On September 30, both the Colgate men’s and women’s cross country teams traveled to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania to take part in the Paul Short Run, hosted by Lehigh University. The competition at the meet was challenging across the board, as evidenced by the final stand­ings. The men’s squad battled hard en route to a 27th place finish, while the women’s team used consistent performances to place 35th overall.

Though the women’s squad placed just 35th out of a field of 45 teams, the team did have several bright spots on the individual level. Se­nior leader Elise DeRoo placed 32nd overall in the event with a blazing fast time of 21:14. The Raiders have ridden DeRoo’s consistently strong performances this season, however finishing just behind DeRoo in many races has been a tight­ly-bound pack of Colgate runners. At the Paul Short Run, DeRoo was followed by four of her fellow classmates.

Senior Kendall Lyons placed 159th in the race, snapping the tape in 22:49. Fellow senior Chelsea Burns placed 188th in the event, cross­ing the finish line in a very respectable 23:03. Seniors Emma Eckerstrom and Kelly Cattano rounded out the top-5 for the Raiders, finish­ing in a virtual tie for 268th place. Both runners finished the race with official times of 24:01, though Eckerstrom edged out Cattano by an ex­tremely slim margin.

The women’s portion of the meet was won by Providence College, who totaled 101 points. The Friars were followed by Villanova University (104) and Syracuse University (125) in second and third place, respectively. The top Patriot League team in the standings was Navy, who placed 15th overall with a total of 499 points.

The men’s team fared slightly better in the overall standings than the women’s team, high­lighted by the incredible performance of sopho­more Chris Johnson, whose time of 25:19 was good enough to win him the individual title. Johnson dominated the competition, snapping the tape 19 seconds ahead of the next racer. The finish was an impressive improvement upon his performance last season, when he placed fourth overall in the same competition, running the course six seconds slower.

Sophomore Timothy Phelps and junior Chris Wendt placed second and third for the Raiders. Phelps crossed the finish line in an im­pressive 26:47, good enough for 67th overall, while Wendt placed 198th after crossing the fin­ish line in 27:54. Sophomores Everett Stilley and Greg Englehart finished off the top-5 for Col­gate, placing 203rd and 235th overall, respec­tively. Stilley completed the race in 29:57, while Englehart crossed the line in a solid 28:16.

The meet was won by Iona, who dominated the competition with just 125 points. Bingham­ton placed second in the 8-kilometer race with 204 points, which Nebraska Wesleyan rounded out the podium positions with a total of 294 points. Holy Cross posted the most impres­sive performance among Patriot League teams, finishing in 17th place overall with 534 points.

Both the men’s and women’s teams will return to action this weekend on October 15.

The men’s squad will travel to Albany, New York to participate in a meet hosted by Albany University. The women’s team will travel to State College, Pennsylvania to take part in the Penn State Invitational.

Both teams will be looking to place higher in the standings at their respective races after the September 30 meet marked by particularly stiff competition.

Contact Matt Flannery at [email protected].