The College of Staten Island men’s cross-country team finalized its 2015 season at the NCAA Regional Championship this weekend, ultimately taking 34th place in the vast event held at Letchworth State Park in Castile, NY, and hosted by SUNY-Geneseo. The Dolphins earned dome great times in the event, making it a fitting end to another terrific season.
Back from being ill over the last few weeks that effected performance, sophomore Andrew Scharf was back to old self in the race, putting in a great time of 28:26.8, the third-fastest time by a CSI runner this season in the 8k. The time was good for a 164th place finish. Rounding out the top 200 runners in the meet was fellow sophomore Liam McMunn, who dashed in at 29:19, his second-best 8k of the season, narrowly missing his top time by two seconds.
Matthew Day came in just over the half-hour mark at 30:26.4, and just two paces behind him was senior Samuel Obisanya, who came in at 30:30.9. Kenneth Morella topped out CSI’s scorers with a time of 31:05.2. Not scoring for CSI but still coming and pacing well were Joshua Ribaudo at 32:35.1 and Richard Ruggiero at 34:49.4.
Nearly 290 racers and 41 complete teams represented Regional play. SUNY-Geneseo’s Isaac Garcia-Cassani won the meet with a time of 25:11.1, and he helped lead Geneseo to first place with a score of 54 points. St. Lawrence followed in second place, with Hamilton taking third. CSI finished with 1,054 points, just beating out fellow CUNYAC-rivals CCNY by 30 points. The Beavers were the only other CUNYAC side to compete.
For the Dolphins, the NCAA Regionals were an end to a terrific season that saw the team win their third-straight CUNYAC Championship, followed by a 30th place finish at the ECAC Division III Championship.
