Stony Brook Cross Country had a strong showing at the Princeton Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 14. Three Seawolves runners finished in the top 15 of the Women’s 6K, a 20-team field that saw 180 competitors take to the track.
Senior Tiana Guevara led the pack for the Seawolves, finishing seventh with a time of 21:41.2. Sophomore Alexandria Ortega came in just over a second after Guevara, her 21:42.4 finishing time winning her eighth place in the competition. Senior Annika Sisson’s 21:48.1 mark was good for 11th place in the field, rounding out a strong race for the team leaders. The team ultimately finished eighth overall.
“Our top 3 girls ran really well and I am very happy with where Ally, Tiana and Annika are at this point of the season,” head coach Andy Ronan said in a press release. “We have work to do at four and five. Talia Guevara will be back for the championships, and the other girls have time to recover from this meet and get ready for what lies ahead.”
Ortega’s eighth-place finish comes on the heels of the sophomore winning America East Female Performer of the Week honors following her 53rd-place finish at the Paul Short Invitational on Sept. 29. She is the third Seawolves runner to win the award this season after Tiana Guevara and Men’s Cross Country sophomore Cameron Avery swept the honors after their efforts at the Sept. 9 Wolfie Invitational.
On the men’s side, Avery again led the way for the team in the 8K race, coming in 15th with a time of 24:31.9. Stony Brook came in third place overall, with five Seawolves finishing within the top 40 and no runner placing below 67th in a 205-man race.
“I don’t think we had any great individual performances, just solid ones,” Ronan said in a press release. “Overall, I am satisfied with our performance, we hung tough after not getting a great start and some of the guys step up when we needed them.”
Senior Nick Cruz raced his way to a 19th-place finish coming in just behind Avery at 24:36.1. Junior Daniel Connelly and sophomore Vann Moffett rounded out the top 25, with times of 24:37.8 and 24:39.2, good for 22nd and 25th place respectively. Sophomore Chris Biondi came in 33rd place after finishing with a time of 24:47.3.
Stony Brook Cross Country will race in just six days at the Central Connecticut Mini Meet in New Britain, Connecticut on Friday, Oct. 20 at 3 p.m. before gearing up for the America East Championships in Burlington, Vermont on Oct. 28.
