Ginny Lucchetti runs at SUNYACS in Oneonta Oct. 28.
By Kamiko Chamble
The Plattsburgh cross country season ended, leaving everyone on a good note — Head Coach Jordyn Naylon and her rosters made sure of that.
Fourteen runners on the men’s team qualified for NCAA Regionals: Noah Bonesteel, Graham Richard, Justin Kumrow, Erik Kucera, Michael Brockway, Peter Basile and Zander Brown.
On the women’s team, seven: Marissa Colvin, Sarah Smith, Ginny Lucchetti, Anya Sloth, Natalia Castro and Jayelee Southwell.
The men’s team placed 12th in the 8k, scoring 350 points at Regionals. Individually, the runners succeeded overall: Bonesteel came in 54th place, finishing with a time of 26:03, breaking his personal record; Richard placed 60th and finished with a time of 26:14.3, Kumrow came in 64th place and finished with a time of 26:18.3, breaking his PR time by almost a whole minute; Kucera came in 83rd place and finished with a time of 26:47.3; Brockway came in 89th place, finishing with a time of 27:04.9, Basile came in 106th with a time of 27:47.2, which is 50 seconds faster than his PR time; and Brown came in 132nd and finished with a time of 29:28.6.
The women’s team placed 15th and scored 443 points. Individually the female runners did great: Colvin came in 52nd place, finishing with a time of 22:41.6, almost an entire minute ahead of her PR time; Lucchetti finished in 86th place finishing with a time of 23:42, and breaking their PR of 25 minutes; Smith came in 94th place, with a finishing time of 24:10.3, almost 30 seconds faster than her PR time; Sloth was right behind her, coming in 104th place, finishing with a time of 24:31.3; Castro came in 129th with a time of 25:20.9; and Southwell placed 140th, finishing with the time of 25:44.4, which is over a minute over her PR.
“It’s an improvement on both sides from last year,” Naylon said. “Last year, the men finished 15th and the women finished 18th, so it was a really good improvement in a deep race.”
This season has been full of improvements all-around. This year, the women’s team beat SUNY Brockport by just one point at SUNYACs. With Brockport leaving the conference, it can’t get Plattsburgh back. That’s one of Naylon’s favorite moments from this season.
One of the men’s team’s best moments was the plethora of PRs being beaten at Regionals.
“It’s been really nice to see them coming together and supporting each other,” Naylon said. “This has been the best team on the men’s side since I was in college, and the best female team since at least 2016. I’m just really proud of this team, they’re very easy.”
Basile is very grateful to qualify for a reason: he’s a junior and this is his first time ever qualifying.
“This is the first time I ran at regionals with the guys so it was a pretty cool experience and just the atmosphere was great, just being out there was pretty cool,” Basile said.
Before every race, Basile always struggled getting mentally prepared. Now, he likes to go into his own zone, throw his headphones on, and listen to music that gets him pumped up and ready to go, getting hyped up with the guys.
Lucchetti expressed that their favorite moment this season was just running with their teammates.
“We just constantly motivate each other and we talk during workouts which makes running a lot more enjoyable,” Lucchetti said.
Lucchetti also likes to mentally prepare for a meet by listening to music. Lucchetti also journals before every meet.
“I keep a little journal and I write in it right before I race, it helps a lot,” Lucchetti said.
Lucchetti is excited for the indoor season. They run mid-distance.
Ending off the cross country season, the runners have three weeks off before transitioning into indoor track and field season. The track team is back after that with three meets back-to-back: starting Saturday, Dec. 2 at St. Lawrence for the Saints Holiday Relays, then traveling to Utica for the Utica Holiday Classic Friday, Dec. 8 and Saturday, Dec. 9. The team will then take winter break before returning in late January.
