STAC Striders Set The Pace At St. Rose Joust

October 6, 2007 
 

The Spartan Striders of Saint Thomas Aquinas College traveled up to the 3^rd annual Golden Joust Invitational, hosted by the College of Saint Rose, on Friday, October 5^th.  On a hot, humid day, with the sun scorching down, the eight-team race became a dual in the sun between the host school and the Spartan Striders.

Coach Billings, in his pre-race calculations had predicted that the men's team would finish no lower than second, but that first place seemed a bit out of reach for the surging striders. Fortunately for Mr. Billings, the striders had a different plan in store on this flat grassy course. Instead of being content with second place, they exerted their will and bodies and blew away the College of Saint Rose by a score of 30 - 42. This became the first invitational that they won in a long time. Captain, Andrew Gangemi told coach that in his freshman year that they had tied for 2^nd, but never had won an invitational in his three years of collegiate running. Thus the mighty Spartans have succeeded where others have not for quite some time! Leading the pack home was junior Elmer Eckert, who strode home in 28:45, good enough for 3^rd place. Captain Gangemi, also a junior, fought off a sprained ankle injury and powered home in 29:12, right behind Eckert.

Junior Rafael Ortiz continue the blitz by placing 6^th, as he legged it home in 30:04. Fourteen second behind Ortiz was sophomore Vinny Modafferi, as he flew across the finish line in 30:18. Rounding out the top five and clinching their first invitational victory was freshman Matt Tucker who willed himself home in 31:58, despite dealing with Achilles tendon issues. Finishing 26^th overall, and 6^th position on the STAC PACK was freshman Dan Nilsen who came home in 40:17, while fighting off heat exhaustion. 

The Lady Spartans ran against eight different schools and finished 4^th overall in the women's race. Leading the women was freshman Sade Mosher who came home in 24:42. Following right behind her were seniors, Lisa Urnaitis who finished her second collegiate race with a time of 25:21, and Samara Vega who continued her transformation into a distance runner by running 25:24. Two places behind Samara was sophomore Amanda Szorentini, who came home in 25:59. Two places behind Amanda was sophomore Ashley Toscano, who limped home in 26:22, inspite of continuing to deal with I.T. problems.

Next up for the Spartans is the UAlbany Cross Country Invitational at Albany, New York, where they will take on the big dogs in the northeast.  

                         3rd Golden Knights Joust - Hosted by The College of Saint Rose

Place TmPl No.  Name               Yr  School           Time  Pace 

===== ==== ==== ================== === ================ ===== =====

    1    1 Brad Lewis         Sr. Saint Rose       27:28  5:33

    2      Matt Medeiros                                    27:57  5:38

    3    2 Patrick Cullen     Jr. Saint Rose       28:31  5:45

    4    3 Elmer Eckert       Jr. St. Thomas     28:45  5:48

    5      Aaron Lozier                                       29:02  5:52

    6    4 Andrew Gangemi     Jr. St. Thomas 29:12  5:54

    7    5 Tyler Gantz        So. Saint Rose        29:42  6:00

    8        UNATTACHED                                29:49  6:01

    9    6  Rafael Ortiz       Jr. St. Thomas      30:04  6:04

   10    7 Vinny Modafferi    So. St. Thomas 30:18  6:07

   11       Peter Yarema       Sr. Mercy            30:44  6:12

   12       UNATTACHED                               31:27  6:21

   13       Bill Berger            Sullivan CCC     31:35  6:22

   14       Brandon Madigan                            31:37  6:23

   15    8  Matthew Badamo     So. Molloy     31:41  6:24

   16       UNATTACHED                               31:51  6:26

   17   9  Kency Gilet            Pace                   31:53  6:26

   18   10 Matt Tucker        Fr. St. Thomas   31:58  6:27

   19   11  Patrick McCabe     Fr. Molloy       32:19  6:31

   20   12  Neal Reff          Fr. Molloy              32:22  6:32

   21   13  Brian Gosioco      Jr. Molloy           32:25  6:33

   22         Kevin Gibson       Jr. Mercy            32:29  6:33

   23        Thomas Cannariato  Sr. Mercy       32:34  6:34

   24   14  Daniel Naud        Fr. Molloy           32:38  6:35

   25         Jose Gomez         Jr. Mercy            32:39  6:35

   26   15  Mike Vitale            Pace                   32:40  6:36

   27   16  Matthew Haker      So. Saint Rose  32:49  6:37

   28   17  John Lynch         Fr. Molloy            32:55  6:39

   29   18  Christopher Allin  Fr. Saint Rose   33:07  6:41

   30   19  Timothy Cook       Sr. Molloy           33:10  6:42

   31   20   Zach Phelps        So. Saint Rose       33:39  6:47

   32   21  Enrick Garcia          Pace                   33:55  6:51

   35   22  Greg Clark         So. Saint Rose        34:46  7:01

   36         Thomas Leninger    Jr. Molloy         34:58  7:03

   37   23   Nick Molnar            Pace                  35:23  7:08

   38          Corey Ramos            Sullivan CCC  36:54  7:27

   39          Patrick Kennedy    Fr. Saint Rose    37:59  7:40

   40   24   Ali Naveed             Pace                      38:36  7:47

   41   25   Ben Ogden              Pace                     39:18  7:56

   42   26  Dan Nilsen         Fr. St. Thomas         40:17  8:08