The Cardinals followed up their season opener with the 37th annual Cardinal Classic cross country meet, which kicked off at 10 a.m. Saturday at the field house.
Last weekend’s lineup was all-North Country, with private schools such as No.18/23 St. Lawrence University and Clarkson University competing. Potsdam was the only other SUNY school to participate in the annual race.
On the women’s team, PSUC sophomore Jasmine Roberts and junior Kristina Watrobski took the lead placements for Plattsburgh State. Watrobski crossed the finish line for the five-kilometer race at 19 minutes and 29.7 seconds and Roberts had a finishing time of 19 minutes and 2.6 seconds. Both placing them in the top 10 finishers of the event. With the efforts of these two athletes, along with their teammates, the Cardinals were able to receive an overall score of 68 points, landing them in third place out of the four teams.
In a total of 55 runners, Roberts placed third behind Saint Lawrence’s Sarah Moon and Caroline Driscoll, while Watrobski placed eighth overall.
“More teams come to this meet in general”, Watrobski said. “The atmosphere is more exciting and competitive”.
“It felt good to know that we were all kind of supporting each other during the race” she continued. “I thought this was a really good meet for everyone and our team is extremely close this year”.
Every one of the PSUC women improved their time compared to their last race.
“You always want to do well at Cardinal Classic, it is our home meet so you want to represent well” Watrobski said.
St. Lawrence University took the lead in the race, finishing and winning with a score of 20 points. Clarkson University placed second with a score of 49 points. Plattsburgh took third with 68 points and Potsdam finished fourth with a team total of 113 points.
On the men’s side, PSUC Senior William Lindau finished eighth out of 59 runners with a time of 20 minutes and 0.9 seconds in the men’s six kilometer race. Sophomore Luke Groves placed second for Plattsburgh State with a time of 20 minutes and 19 seconds.
St. Lawrence took the title once again with a score of 15 points. Plattsburgh State placed second finishing with 49 points. St. Lawrence came in third with 78 points and Potsdam was fourth with a score of 120 points.
Being that this was the Cards last home meet of year, and being Cardinal Classic, a tradition that began in 1981, alumni support was out in force.
“This [meet] is definitely special because a lot of alumni come back” Lindau said. “They come to cheer us on and hang out”.
As far as alumni support, Kinetic Running, who sponsored the event, is a business founded by Plattsburgh State athletics graduates.
“I’ve been to the Kinetic Running store a few times” Lindau admits. “I haven’t bought any shoes from them but I’ve purchased different kind of running snacks, such as energy bars”.
With alumni support involved, it makes the event bigger than a race but it brings the entire community together.
For the rest of the season, the Cards will be on the road traveling to compete with other schools.
“Home meets certainly have their advantages”, said head coach, Andrew Krug. “But we also get to travel to some really cool places”.
This weekend at St. Lawrence University’s Hoffman Invititational, PSUC will compete in a 6-kilometer race for the women, and an 8-kilometer race for the men’s team.
“It will be the first of each for the season” Krug said.
In order to prepare the athletes for the longer-distance race, their workout procedures will have a higher intensity than usual. Krug wants the Cards to get comfortable with their individual races for the meets ahead.
“I think everyone still has there best race yet to come” Watrobski said. “We’re all hungry for more, we’re all focused”.
Saturday’s race at St. Lawrence University will kick off at 11 a.m.
Email Denise Brown at cp@cardinalpointsonline.com
