The Plattsburgh State cross country team finished off its season with a regional competition of mixed results last weekend.
The men finished 15th out of 42 teams, while the women finished 15th out of 41 at the 2017 NCAA Division III Cross Country Atlantic Region Championships hosted by Houghton College
“On the men’s side, we ran a much smarter race than SUNYACs,” head coach Andrew Krug said. “We were happy coming in 15th because we were 23rd last year. We beat Cortland, who we didn’t beat at SUNYACs, and we continued our dominance against some North Country rivals.”
Sophomore Mitchell Marlow made it a perfect year by once again running the top time on the men’s side for the Cardinals, coming in 27th out of 290 runners overall. Behind him came juniors Matt Jenkins and John Weed, and freshmen brothers Andrew and Arthur Horan to finish off the group of scorers for PSUC.
“We were definitely happy to beat Cortland, after not beating them at SUNYACs,” Marlow said. “Beating Clarkson was nice too, and the improvement over last year’s finish was another big thing to accomplish.”
Marlow also earned All-Region honors for his efforts.
The women’s side saw some disappointment in the 15th place finish after coming into the race ranked 6th in the region.
“We had been ranked in the top ten (in the region) for the majority of the season, so we were disappointed with the result on the team side,” Krug said. “It was a tough day. We didn’t have our best performance, but we’re still a young team so that’s something we can look forward to.”
Senior Lindsey Davenport crossed first for the women, finishing 53rd out of 285 runners. Behind her finished sophomore Samantha Mosca, freshmen Jackie Corbett and Mikayla Anderson, and junior Hannah Despres.
“We were definitely disappointed by the results overall of the race, but we knew that we couldn’t let that one race define our season,” Davenport said.
While the results at Regionals were disappointing, Davenport wasn’t going to let the results spoil her memories of her senior season.
“The season was amazing,” Davenport said. “Aside from Regionals, I couldn’t have asked for more. The team was great, we ran great, and I know that for years to come they’re going to do really well.”
Krug shared Davenport’s enthusiasm about the season as whole on both sides.
“We had a very strong season. We’re a young team, and we’re going to continue down this path. We have a huge chunk of our team returning, so we’re going to keep trying to get better and better every season.”
Now that the cross country season is over, the runners will switch focus to indoor track and field.
Practices will be starting over the next couple weeks, with the Cards’ first meet taking place on Dec. 1 at St. Lawrence University.
“Some people prefer cross country, others prefer track,” Krug said. “For those who prefer cross country, track is a good way to train for it, and for those who like track more have been using cross country as a way to train.”
Davenport expressed that the team will enjoy the break between seasons, but will be ready to implement lessons learned this fall.
“It’s a lot to think about. Right now we’re enjoying our time off from practice and letting our bodies rest. We’ll definitely be using our success from this cross country season as motivation, but also our disappointment at regionals. We’re just looking forward to seeing what we can do.”
Email Ben Watson at sports@cardinalpointsonline.com
