NEW YORK - In their first meet of the season, the Binghamton Invitational, the Columbia cross country dominated the competition, taking first in both the men's and women's races. The men finished with 21 points, 20 points ahead of second-place Binghamton, while the women finished with 15 points, a full 41 points ahead of their nearest competition, host Binghamton.
On the women's side running a 5k, junior
Jillian Goodwin and senior
Irena Ossola came in first and second, in 19:07.84 and 19:07.88. First-year
Caroline McDonough (19:08.09), junior
Jacqueline Drouin (19:08.13), junior
Julianne Quinn (19:08.29), junior
Erin Hays (19:08.37) and first-year Claire Buck (19:08.38) crossed the finish line as a pack, all coming with in one second of their teammates, and securing a Columbia sweep of the top seven spots.
Places eight through 13 also saw runners finish wearing Columbia blue. First-year
Erin Gillingham led the second wave, coming in eighth in 19:25.47. Senior
Christina Henderson came in behind her in 19:28.92. From there, it was first-year
Mallory Anderson (19:34.45), sophomore
Leila Norman (19:38.64), first-year
Jessica Fingers (19:39.91) and first-year
Irene Kalbian (19:40.86). Coming in 15th and 16th were first-years
Erica Pearson (19:50.50) and Trish Reilly (19:51.58). First-year
Caitlin Williamson rounded out the pack, finishing in 21:35.45.
On the men's side, the Lions had similar successes in the 8k, with 12 of the top 14 runners coming in Columbia blue. Sophomore
Kyle Merber was the top finisher for the Lions, as he came in second, with a time of 25:53.44. He was followed by junior
Anthony Merra (25.53.62), first-year
Benjamin Veilleux (25:53.96) and sophomore
Justin Heck (25:54.00). Coming in seventh was junior
Brendan Martin (25:54.77), followed closely by senior
Ryan Withall (25:54.81), junior
Dustin Martin (25:55.32), first-year
Michael Murphy (25:55.37), sophomaore
Gary Brownell (25:55.38), junior
Matthew Ciambriello (25:55.68), first-year
Leighton Spencer (25:56.68), and first-year Marc Feigen (26:00.07). First-year
Blake Cowan was next to cross the line for Columbia, finishing 17th in 26:06.42, while
Thomas Poland and
Andy Buchanan came in at 26:26.79 and 26:27.06. First-year
Steven Iglehart finished in 26:58.12, senior
Patrick Jeffers came across in 27:05.01, first-year
Paul Snyder finished in 27:24.84, and sophomore
Kyle Cooke rounded out the group, finishing in 28:17.72.
Up next, the Lions take a few weeks off of racing, before they travel to Virginia for an October 3rd showing at the George Mason Invitational.