SPARTAN STRIDERS REVIEW
October 13,
2007
Fresh off their win at the Saint Rose Invitational, The Spartan Striders of Saint Thomas Aquinas College traveled back up to the capitol district of New York
to run in the 41staddition of the UALBANY CROSS COUNTRY INVITATIONAL. Running against 40 other schools, which included 38 Division I teams, the Mighty Spartans came in 20thoverall, and 2ndin Division II colleges! On a beautiful, crisp Saturday morning, one made to order for a fast cross country race, all 8 of the varsity men ran personal records on the flat, fast 8K course. Once again, leading the team was junior Elmer Eckert, who came in 75th, and chopped off 1 minute and 40 seconds off his previous season best performance, running a magnificent 27:05. Following Eckert into the finishing chute was junior Drew Gangemi, who came thru in 105th position. Captain Gangemi demolished his personal season best by running a 27:46, which was
1 minute and 26 seconds quicker than his last 8k race. Sophomore Vinny Modafferi was probably the greatest surprise, as he stormed down the straightaway in 28:14 and finished in the 119th position overall. His P.B. gap was 2 minutes and 4 seconds! Modefferi moved up to the 3rd spot on the team with his personal best performance. Coming in 4th position on the team and 127th overall was junior Rafael Ortiz. Mr. Ortiz ran a 28:32 and broke his own personal best by 1 minute and 24 seconds. While Rafael traded places with Vinny as the 4th team member to cross the finish line, his time represented for the first time in a number of years, 4 runners who could finish in under the 29 minute mark, which is a feet in itself! Rounding out the top 5 was freshman Christian Mendez who ran 30:38 and finished in 154th position. Mr. Mendez, coming off an ankle injury, which sidelined him for over 2 weeks, ran a strategic race by starting slow and finishing fast, and in spite of few workouts; he too improved on his personal time. In sixth position, and 157 overall, freshman Matt Tucker stalked Mendez to the finish line, running a personal best of 30:52. Matt chopped 1 minute and 6 seconds off his previous 8K times. Sophomore Lee Buelta. crossed the finish line in 32:25, and 166th place overall. Lee removed 1 minute and 26 seconds from his personal best time on an 8K course. Last but not least on the team was Dan Nilsen, who flew back for the race, after attending a family funeral in Texas. Dan finished in 227th position overall, in a time of 36:15, beating his previous best by 1 minute and 3 seconds. Thus history was made in Albany, as all 8 Spartans who toed the line for battle, recorded personal bests on the same day!
The Lady Spartans also ran against 40 other teams.
While not defeating any of them, three out of the five women broke their own personal best times for their 5K races.
For the second time this season, neophyte Lisa Urnaitis lead the STAC PACK by coming home in 171 place overall with a time of 23:45.2 Lisa chopped off over 2 minutes on her 5K performance. As she legged it home down the quarter mile straightaway, she was determined that no one pass her in the final part of the race, her finish was a great sight to behold. Freshman Sade Mosher finished right behind Lisa in 172nd place. Her time of 23:45.4 was two tenths of a second behind Lisa's. Like Lisa, Sade's kick down the final straightaway was strong. Unfortunately, she ran out of grass, as she tried vainly to catch her teammate. Sade also bettered her overall performance on a 5K course by over 2 and one half minutes! Not to be out done by her teammates, senior Samara Vega chopped a whooping 2 minutes and 30 seconds off her 5K race performance with a time of 24:19. Infact, for the first time in Samara's short running career, she ran under 8:00 minute pace for a 5K race, finishing the course at a 7:50 per mile pace! Coming in fourth position and 184th place overall, was sophomore Ashley Toscano, who in spite of continuing to nurse an I.T. injury, one which keeps her from regular daily workouts, ran a strategic race and finished in 25:15.
Tri-captain, Amanda Szorentini rounded out the top five by
placing 188th overall, in a time of 26:05.
All in all, it was a great day for both men and women,
as 11 out of 13 runners established new personal records.
Next up for the team is the East Coast Conference Championship
held on the fabled trials of Van Cortland Park on October 21st.
With that race just around the corner, who knows how many
more personal bests will be set by the mighty Spartan Striders.
But for now, they are savoring their accomplishments,
while striving to move up to the next level of their running ability.
Men's Results
20. 580 St. Thomas Aquinas College (28:27.3 142:16.1)
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1 75 Elmer Eckert JR 27:05.2
2 105 Andrew Gangemi JR 27:46.1
3 119 Vinny Modafferi SO 28:14.0
4 127 Rafael Ortiz JR 28:32.0
5 154 Christian Mendez FR 30:38.8
6 (157) Matt Tucker FR 30:52.8
7 (166) Lee Buelta SO 32:25.6
Women's Results
29. 890 St. Thomas Aquinas College (24:38.1 123:10.2)
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1 171 Lisa Urnaitis SR 23:45.2
2 172 Sade Mosher FR 23:45.4
3 175 Samara Vega SR 24:19.2
4 184 Ashley Toscano SO 25:15.2
5 188 Amanda
Szorentini SO 26:05.3