The College of Staten Island women’s cross-country squad had their finest effort of the season on Sunday, posting a 7th place finish at the Lehman College Invitational at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, New York. Final results are still pending for the men’s outcome, but CSI was able to score as five runners placed in the event with the CUNYAC Championship less than a month away.
CSI had a season-high nine runners cross the line on Sunday in the women’s 5k race, including a pair in the Top 50. Freshmen tandem Amina Huseinbegovic (23:43.33) and Joanna Villegas (24:28.26) came in 28th and 40th, respectively, leading CSI overall. Villegas’ time was a season-best, while Huseinbegovic’s mark was just three seconds off her best showing as well, showing great consistency.
Jacqueline Jamaleddine was next to cross fro CSI at 26:01.94 (56th), while four more runners rounded out the Top 100 in the field of 134 total runners. Bibi Ghafari (26:36.21, 67th), Mallory Baio (27:28.58, 76th), Goodnews Nkama (28:17.15, 84th), and Melissa King (29:41.23, 100th) did the honors there, while CSI finalized with Kubra Shirazi (32:15.44) and Sandra Battle (36:24.33).
NCAA Division II CW Post took teh meet overall by a single point over St. Joseph’s College – LI. CSI was 7th overall but third overall amond CUNYAC schools, 32 points behind Brooklyn College and 30 behind Baruch College.
The CSI men are developing their young squad and a total of five men crossed for CSI. The shining star was newcomer Andrew Pate, who turned in a time of 30:59.96, good for 25th overall in the 8k event. Matt Pfaff came in at 39:13.21, and was followed closely by Chris Gonzalez (39:24.33), Dimitri Mazidis (41:51.33), and Michael Gratkowski (45:32.33).
Next up for CSI will be their very own invitational, to be held at Clove Lakes Park at 9am and 10am respectively this Sunday, October 9.
