With the CUNYAC Championship approaching in the weeks ahead, the College of Staten Island changed things up this weekend, performing in Branch Brook Park in New ark, New Jersey, as part of the New Jersey Institute of Technology Invitational on Saturday.  The Dolphins held back a percentage of their roster for the meet, choosing to rest players and recoup themselves from a rigorous start.  The CSI men placed 9th overall in a field of 19 complete teams and 144 runners, while the women placed a disputed 18th place out of 20 teams and 162 competitors.

In a departure from the norm, only six racers paved the way for the Dolphins.  The freshman tandem of Andrew Scharf and Liam McMunn once again dazzled coming in 1-2 for CSI.  Scharf came in first with a time of 28:19, good for 39th in the field, while McMunn was in shortly after at 29:02 and in 46th place.  Justin Mills landed in with a time of 29:38, and 53rd place, while Kenneth Morella was in just over a minute later at 30:43.  Rounding out CSI’s team was Josh Ribaudo’s time of 32:50, and Khaled Halwani, participating in his first meet of the season, at 33:48.

Molloy College (Division II) was the meet outright with 67 points, followed by Queens College with 83, and LIU-Post with 87 points.  Of the CUNYAC participants, CSI came in first, besting Baruch College (11th) and Brooklyn College (18th).

On the women’s side there was a contention, as the meet failed to document the racing performance of Victoria Barry, CSI’s junior runner who led the way and placed first among the CSI runners.  Her performance was not counted in the results and it led to a scoring discrepancy that CSI has since challenged.  Meanwhile, Barry was followed in by freshman Victoria Crea (22:36), and 14 seconds later Lisa Galasso was next to finish.  Other CSI scorers were Jamie Pifalo at 24:06 and Alyssa Carlsen at 26:09.  Brianna Salomon (26:32), Rebecca Vidal (26:57) and Carissa Mazzeo (29:49) were also on hand to add depth to the lineup.

?St. Thomas Aquinas won the meet outright on the women’s side with a score of 40, beating LIU-Post by just two points.  

CSI will be back in action next Sunday for the CCNY Invitational at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, beginning at 10:00am.