The march towards SUNYAC play continued for both the men and women’s cross country teams this past weekend, as they participated in the Roberts Wesleyan Invitational.

The men managed to finish 18 out of 24 teams, and the women were able to get a top ten finish, finishing 9 out of 20 teams.

“This weekend was great,” head coach Ray Shadowens said. “As a stat person, to have five women at that 21-minute mark and below, as far back as I can go, that’s the first time we’ve ever had that here.”

Senior runner Kat McNamara, who finished 31 out of 205 with a time of 19:36, led the women.

“I felt really good this race,” McNamara said. “We have a really close top three this year, which is really exciting and motivating.”

“Right now, she is clearly our number one girl,” Shadowens said of McNamara, “for her not to finish first last week, and to come out and finish this week, was really good to see out of her.”

Another strong takeaway from the women’s team was freshman runner Ronni Kordrupel, who made her debut with a strong time of 19:52, finishing 43^rd in the field. Following her for the Bengals was Sharae Smith, who finished 50^th in the field with a time of 20:07.

Up next for the women’s team is the Geneseo Invitational this Saturday on Oct. 3.

For the second week in a row, the men’s team was led by senior runner Austin Becker. Becker finished with an overall time of 27:54, finishing 79 out of 237 runners.

Following Becker’s lead was sophomore Mitch Rabold, who finished 108^th with a time of 28:36.

“I’ve been fighting an Achilles injury, but it has begun to fade away,” Rabold said. “As far as the team goes, I think we have improved. Some of the newer guys are getting used to running the 8ks.”

After Becker and Rabold, the Bengals that followed were Phil Guiga, who finished 124^th with a time of 29:39, and senior Ken Ryan, who managed a time of 30:05, good for 151^st.

After this weekend’s meet at the Geneseo Invitational, both teams are off for the next two weeks, and that’s when Shadowens expects the team to really come together before SUNYAC play.

“We’re a small team, so it’s nice to see everyone step up and pull their weight and do what they need to be doing for this team to succeed.”

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