On a beautiful Sunday morning The King's College Cross Country team was back at the historic Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx for the York College Invitational. Having run the course the previous weekend at the Queensborough Invitational, the team was now familiar with the rigorous terrain of Van Cortlandt. The weather could not have been better and the team put on an impressive performance.
The women's side placed 8th out of 23 teams led by the incredible performance of Alina Bonn. The senior ran 27:39 in the 6K race to finish 15th in the field of 164 runners. The six TKC ladies ran a total time of 2:33:40 with each athlete averaging 30:44. Freshman Kaitlin O'Dell was next across the line for TKC with a 30:12 and a 51st place finish. Senior Hannah Lezak came right behind her in 55th place and a 30:23. Sophomore Kaitlin Berry came in 72nd with a 31:38 and sophomore Rachel Sheldon was 91st with a 33:46. Freshman Marissa Wineriter closed things out for TKC with a 34:51 and 105th place. The women scored 237 points to clinch their 8th place position while Bonn became the first TKC athlete to take home an individual medal this season.
The TKC men did not have the minimum number of athletes (five) to score as a team, but the three Lions who did compete turned in some promising times on the 8K course. In his first collegiate meet freshman Ben Cook came in 84th with a 34:54. Senior captain Charles O'Brien was 95th with a 35:51, chopping two minutes off his time from one week ago, and freshman Micah Paulec clocked in at 37:00 for 104th place.
UP NEXT: The team will get back to work for another productive week of training before heading up to the Mount Saint Mary's Invitational outside Newburgh, NY. The meet will be held at the Hudson Valley Sportsdome Complex, the site of the Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Championships which will be held later in October.