The Plattsburgh State cross country team had a well-deserved weekend off after its meet at Rowan on October 15, and are now looking to carry their momentum forward into the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Championships.
The men placed 32nd out of 43 teams at the Inter-Regional Border Battle, while the women finished 19th out of 45 teams.
‘The Inter-Regional Border Battle meet was a national-caliber meet and it was great to get the exposure to the competition that was there,” Coach Andrew Krug said. “I think we ran pretty well given that fact, what with 10 plus nationally ranked teams on each side.”
It was the usual suspects finishing as the team’s first finisher on both sides with Lauren Perschetz finishing 35th overall in the women’s race, and Ethan Vinson finishing 146th overall in the men’s race.
Several other Cards on the women’s side continued their outstanding season. Stephanie Boucher and Hayley Mooney both set personal records en route to finishing 82nd and 104th respectively.
Junior Lindsey Davenport also continued to be a factor in the team’s scoring, finishing 148th overall and as the women’s 4th finisher.
“I’ve been very happy with the team overall, and my performance individually,” Davenport said. “The team, and I, have been improving each week, and it showed at Rowan.”
On the men’s side, sophomores Matthew Jenkins and Jeriquo Gadway also continued their successful seasons, finishing as the men’s 2nd and 3rd finishers, 149th and 226th overall respectively.
Sophomore John Weed finished as the team’s 5th finisher, 251st overall, and had some good feelings about the team coming out of Rowan.
“I think we ran pretty well as a team last week,” Weed said. “We saw some pretty fast times since Rowan is such a fast course that has no hills.”
The general consensus around the team was that good or bad results aside, it was quite helpful to get a look at the course at Rowan before it comes back around for Regionals.
“Running the course made me feel a lot more prepared to run at regionals,” Weed said. “It’s always harder to set a pace on a new course, so being able to gain an understanding of the course before we actually run is definitely beneficial.”
“We need to get out into good position faster in the first mile,” Krug said. “I think that that cost some people a better finishing place.”
Davenport was thinking along the same line as her coach.
“We need to be making sure we’re getting out fast because that course narrows really quickly,” Davenport said. “I think we all saw that so we just have to make sure we get in good positions early on.”
Aside from getting a look at the course they would have to run at regionals, the meet at Rowan also allowed PSUC to see some of the SUNY competition that they will run against this coming weekend.
“We beat (SUNY) Cortland, which was a big accomplishment,” Davenport said.
“Our women’s win over Cortland was great and that was excellent to see, knowing that we can be right there with them this weekend,” Krug said. “A few of the SUNYAC teams on the men’s side had some really good races as well, so we’re looking to get a rematch this weekend.”
Weed’s focus was all on SUNYACs, with hopes to be able to make up for last meet.
“One of our main rivals is New Paltz, so we are looking to beat them for sure,” Weed said. “We’re also looking out for Oswego who ran pretty well at Rowan last week.”
The SUNYACs are being hosted by SUNY Geneseo on Sat., Oct. 29th.
Coach Krug was optimistic to say the least about this weekend.
“I’m just excited,” Krug said. “Summer training started as early as May or June for some, and this is one of those big meets we’ve been preparing for that long for. This will be that last race for a lot of athletes that aren’t going on to regionals, so I’m looking for those athletes to finish their season on a strong point.”
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