It took a little time, but the College of Staten Island cross-country squads learned their fate after racing in the CUNYAC Championship at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, New York.  The races, swept by Hunter College on both sides, saw the CSI women place fourth with 101 points, while the CSI men fared in seventh pace, scoring 176 points.  Scoring didn’t come into focus until yesterday, when the CUNYAC ironed out discrepancies and possible disqualifications.  All told, all CSI runners were able to score effectively and help CSI place to strong finishes for both developing programs.

The women’s side for CSI has been improving with each week and the same held true on Tuesday’s race.  The dynamic freshmen duo of Amina Huseinbegovic and Joanna Villegas led the way for CSI, placing in the Top 15 in two of their most inspired performances of the year.  Huseinbegovic topped out at 28:50, just a half of a minute behind the top 10 for 12th place overall, and a full 16 seconds in front of teammate Villegas who came in right after in 13th place.

Goodnews Nkama was next in 22nd place with a solid time of 31:09, and moments later, Jacqueline Jamaleddine placed 27th.  Rounding out the scorers was Rebecca Liu’s time of 31:57, placing 33rd.  Rounding out the finish was Mallory Baio (46th, 33:26), Melissa King (59th, 36:04), and Kubra Shirazi (67th, 38:26).

For CSI, the 4th place finish with 101 points was behind Hunter (18), Baruch College (58), and Brooklyn College (83).  It was CSI’s highest placing since the 2008 season, when the team placed second overall.

On the men’s ledger, again, improvement was the key, and CSI fared seventh overall by continuing to improve on their times in the 8k event.  Andrew Pate led the CSI charge for their small squad, rounding out a solid time of 31:23, good for 12th overall.  Just under four minutes later, Matthew Pfaff crossed the line in 34th place.  CSI’s three other runners were all keeping similar paces.

Shawn Cybulska and Sean Kelly were neck-and-neck, with Cybuslka finishing 40th with a time of 37:45 and Kelly coming in right after just 16 seconds later.  Dimitri Mazidis rounded out the CSI scoring with a 49th place finish at 42:09.