Bronx, NY | The College of Staten Island made their presence felt this morning at the CUNYAC Men’s & Women’s Cross-Country Championships, climbing up the standings to come up with a pair of quality finishes.  The CSI women registered a third place finish in the field, while the men placed fifth overall in their 8k race.

Hunter College won the women’s 6K at Van Cortlandt Park this morning in the opening race, followed by John Jay College.  Baruch College’s Wendy Gonzalez posted the meet’s fastest time among the four-year college runners, putting up a great time of 25:28.2

As has been the case in almost every meet this season, junior Tristiana Adragna led the CSI women today, putting up a time of 27:47.5 to finish seventh overall in the field as CSI’s top scorer.  Brittani Broderick concluded her tremendous rookie campaign by posting a time of 28:40.4, good enough for 13th overall.

CSI’s Rachel Edmonds, who came in 18th with a time of 29:38.7 was followed closely by Deavion Brown, who landed in the top 20 thanks to a great run of 30:11.8.  N’Zinga Duverney-Beavers was CSI’s last scorer, coming in 31st place with a time of 32:15.2.  CSI’s other two racers were Veronica Lorenzo (41st, 34:14.4) and Victoria DeBernardo (49th, 36:00.8).

For the Dolphins, the third place finish is a vast improvement from their 7th-place finish a year ago, and is their second-highest finish in program history, since 2007.

After the women’s race it was time for the men’s 8K, and it was CCNY that was able to register the gold, as they placed four runners in the Top 10 to win the event with 34 points.  Hunter was a distant second with 76 points, while Baruch took the bronze with 82.  Lehman finished fourth with 83 points, while CSi placed 5th with 113.

CCNY’s Merlin Padilla won the event with a time of 28:11.6.  A pair of CSI runners would land in the Top 15, as freshman Spencer Milito came up in 10th place overall with a time of 30:20.2.  Just over 20 seconds later was senior Liam McMunn, who registered a time of 30:42.5 to come in 12 th overall.

CSI’s next finisher was Jaron Thompson, who came in at 33:42.1 for 27th overall.  CSI’s final two scorers came in 34th and 35th, respectively, as Erik Sanchez posted a time of 34:46.1, and Ahmed Khodir was in at 34:48.6.  CSI’s two non-scorers were Daniel Palmieri (42nd, 36:22.0) and Justin Fernandez (52nd, 39:18.1).

The Dolphins put a big step forward this morning having not fielded a team last year due to an incomplete team.

The Dolphins plan to continue their postseason in a couple of weeks at the NCAA Regional Championships.