The College of Staten Island men’s and women’s cross-country squads were back on the circuit on Sunday, and for the first time in 2016, both squads were able to place at the York College Invitational held at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx.  The CSI men came in 5th place overall out of 22 total scoring teams, while the women placed 14th overall out of 23 teams.

After failing to score an entire unit thus far this season, the men got on the right track at the 8k event.  Making his 2016 debut, Luke Johnson was a huge difference-maker, coming in at 29:07.7, which was good for 9th place overall and second overall amongst CUNYAC runners.  The race time was the second-fastest CSI 8k time this season next to junior Liam McMunn’s mark at the Bard Invitational.  McMunn also placed well, coming in 27th overall with a time of 30:47.4.  Two minutes later, both Khaled Halwani and Kenneth Morella both came in back-to-back.  Halwani came in at 32:50.5 while Morella dropped in just over a second later at 32:51.7.  Rounding out the scoring participants was CSI’s Erik Sanchez, who placed in 78th place with a 34:29 race time.  CSI’s final runner was Justice Stoute, who was also participating in his first meet, coming in at 50:02.9.

Mount Saint Mary College won the meet outright with 81 points, slightly better than NYIT’s 91 points.  CSI finished at 208, which was enough to defeat six other CUNYAC schools that also competed.

The women continued their upward trajectory as well.  Racing without a pair of top racers, CSI was still able to score a 14th place finish, and were third among six other CUNYAC schools.  Freshman Tristiana Adragna scored CSI’s best 6k race time this season, coming in at 28:29.3.  Fellow teammate Rebecca Vidal put in CSI’s second-best time all season in the 6k with a time of 30:45.8, enough to place 64th overall amongst the 167 total runners.  Victoria DeBernardo was next up for CSI with a time of 32:46.5.  Kwan Ho was next to cross at 37:02.0 and rounding out the scoring team was Moet Askew’s 39:01.1.

Mount Saint Mary College also won the race on the women’s side, posting a score of 54, followed by Sarah Lawrence College’s 91 points.  CSI finished with 353 points.

CSI’s next meet will be their very own on October 9.  The meet will take place at Clove Lakes Park in Staten Island.