Head Coach Tom Wilson celebrated the win saying, "Anytime you can win your home meet it's a good feeling, for both me and the athletes . . . There were very strong showings from all my returners as well as strong performances from the freshman. Overall, I am very pleased with the start to our season."
Individual highlights from the men's 5K race included a third place finish from (SR) Kyle Collins (16:09.0), and a fifth place finish from (SR) Collin Mulcahy (16:23.0). Other top ten finishers from this weekend included (JR) Bobby Cooper who finished in 7th place (16:32.0), (SO) Merlin Joseph who finished in 9th place (16:35.0), and (FR) Joseph Northrup who finished in 10th place (16:44.0). "The men looked very confident and strong right from the first mile." Coach Wilson commented. "There were some very strong performances."
On the women's side, top finishers included (SR) Lauren Kotas who finished the 5K race in 2nd place (19:49.0), (JR) Laura Morrison who finished in 3rd place (19:51.0), (JR) Bonnie Binggelli who finished in 5th place (20:15.0), and freshmen Stephanie Wojnowski and Hannah Kurbs who finished in 9th and 10th place respectively (20:25.0, 20:30.0). "The women ran a fantastic 'team' style race this past weekend." Coach Wilson said. "This is what I am looking for out of the women's team."
This upcoming weekend the Blue Devils travel to Beaver Island State Park (Grand Island, NY) to race at the UB Stampede Invitational. They will be the only Division III team competing. When asked about team goals for this upcoming race Coach Wilson shared, "The men will be completing their first 8K this weekend. We are looking to move further into the race as a large group, then run negative splits to finish the race. The women will look to simply run faster as a group. They need to pull their dis-placers closer to the scoring group."
Good luck to both programs this weekend and for the rest of the season!