Lyndaker of Canton Finishes First in Liberty Final; 8th in Regional

Runners take off to begin their race at the St. Lawrence University Invitational Saturday afternoon. (Kevin Fisher photo)

Cross country runners from St. Lawrence, Plattsburgh, Canton, Potsdam, Clarkson and Norwich in stride along the trail at S.L.U.  Dadley Ogetii led the 25th-ranked S.L.U. men's cross country team to an easy win at the 27th Annual Ronald C. Hoffman Invitational on Saturday, winning the individual title as the Saints placed four runners in the top-five. Ogetii finished the 8K course in 25:41.71. Nicholas Vielhauer was 12.74 seconds behind in second place, while Logan Mancuso and Jonathan Mitchell were fourth and fifth, respectively. Evan Page '18 finished in third place as an unattached runner.  (Zach Matthie photo)

Nov. 22: St. Lawrence University's men's cross country team recorded the sixth top ten finish in program history as it finished in tenth in the 2014 NCAA Division III Championships at Kings Island Golf Course in Ohio on Saturday. The Saints, making their seventh straight team appearance in the NCAA Championship, earned their third top ten finish in that streak. They have run as a team in 17 championships since their first appearance in 1978 and the other three top ten finished came in 1884-86. "The guys ran great today and represented our program very well on the national stage," said Saint coach John Newman.  "A top 10 finish at nationals puts you in a select group of schools.  We have a very motivated team this season and to make the kind of improvements over last year is certainly rewarding and also very encouraging.  We have a number of younger guys that are feeding off of the leadership of our senior captains and literally running with it.  I couldn't be more proud of the accomplishments of this team this season and how they've worked together each week and again during today's race." St. Lawrence finished with 313 points in the event, which was won by North with 130 points with St. Olaf second with 143 and Wisconsin-LaCrosse third with 188. Cortland and Geneseo, the other two team representatives from the NCAA Atlantic Region were 19th and 27th respectively. Sophomore Joe Smith had the top finish for the Saints as he was 65th overall in 25:03.4 in a 280-runner field. The Saints again had a good pack spacing as only 20.7 seconds separated their first from fifth scorer in the race. Sophomore Thomas Caulfield was the second Saint finisher, 72nd overall in 25:05.8 with junior Wesley Kirui 85th in 25:12.6, senior Trevor Bibb 87th in 25:13.3 and junior Spencer Patterson 105th in 25:24.1. Senior Scott Smolensky was the sixth Saint finisher in 202nd in 25:57.6 while junior Harrison Sloan completed the Saint team with a 257th place finish in 26:37.6.

Nov. 15: St. Lawrence University's men's cross country team grabbed its team ticket to the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships next weekend, taking the Atlantic Regional automatic berth with an impressive win at Genesee Valley Park in Rochester on Saturday. SLU finished the 39-team race with 63 points with SUNY Geneseo second with 115, Cortland third with 128 and RPI fourth with 151 points. Ranked seventh in the most recent national poll, the Saints placed two in the top ten and had all five of its scorers in the top 25 to earn a seventh straight NCAA team appearance. A consistent top five finisher in the Atlantic Regional, Saturday's win was the first for the Saints in the regional in the last several years. "I am very proud of the guys for running a great race and for the entire program," said Saint coach John Newman. "We had tremendous support today from out students, alumni and parents who came out to Genesee Valley Park and extended their well wishes and congratulations over the last couple of days." The top two teams in the region earn automatic qualification to the NCAA Championship meet which will be run Nov. 22 at Wilmington, OH. The Saints, who had been swapping positions in the regional and national polls with Geneseo, made an emphatic statement with the head-to-head win, as the two teams were even at the mid-point of the 8000 meter race, but Saint runners moved steadily up in the pack to pull away. Sophomore Thomas Caulfield led the Saints, moving up seven places in the second half of the race to finish third overall in 25:16.3. And, as has been their pattern throughout the current season, the Saints finished in a tight grouping with all five scorers within a 33 second span and four within 23 seconds of each other. Caulfield is now in a very select group of Saint runners who have placed in the top three at a regional and one of few sophomores to do so. Senior Trevor Bibb was the second Saint finisher in 25:24.1 as he moved up nine spots from the midpoint to finish seventh overall. Sophomore Joe Smith was 11th in 26:26.9, Wesley Kirui was 17th in 25:39.2 and Spencer Patterson completed the Saint scoring with a 25th place finish in 25:49.5. Harrison Sloan was the sixth Saint finisher, 40th overall in 26:06.5 while Scott Smolensky rounded out the Saint top seven with a 59th place finish in 26:25.3.

Aug 30. In his first collegiate race with the SUNY Canton men's cross country team Austin Johnston (Auburn, NY) posted a sixth place finish to lead the Roos to fourth place at the second annual Kangaroo Invitational on Saturday. Johnston placed sixth individually out of the 51 runner field crossing the finish line of the 5-kilometer course in a time of 17:42. Classmate Tom Lauzon (Bombay, NY) turned in a 23rd place performance in a time of 18:59, while Shawn Deibel (Albion, NY) finished 23 second behind Lauzon. Andrew Wilson (Bronx, NY) and Bryant Cotey (Norwood, NY) rounded out the scoring runners for the Roos in 42nd and 45th places, respectively. Freshmen Matthew Lindke (Webster, NY) and Josh May (Glenville, NY) also turned in solid performances in their first races with the Roos. Clarkson University took home the team title with 25 points ahead of second place SUNY Plattsburgh (46). Johnson State's 98 points narrowly eclipsed the Roos 104. However, SUNY Canton was able to hold off SUNY Potsdam (108) who finished in the fifth and final spot.   Full Results The SUNY Canton men's cross country team returns to the trails on Sunday, September 7 when they travel to Castleton, VT to take part in the Castleton State Invitational.

Aug 30. With more than half of the top 10 constituted of Clarkson University Cross Country members, the Golden Knights' men's and women's runners dominated the 2014 Kangaroos Cross Country Invitational on Saturday. Men's Race Results Women's Race Results The Golden Knights' men had three of the top five, seven of the top 10, 10 of the top 15 and 18 of the top 30, Clarkson scored just 25 points in the 5,000-meter event at SUNY Canton. Plattsburgh was second at 46, followed by Johnson State (98), host SUNY Canton (104) and Potsdam State (108). The women weren't quite so dominant overall (14 of the top 30 total, but four of the top five and seven of the top 10), but actually scored lower with just 21 points with the fifth runner taking seventh overall. Potsdam State was a distant second (71), followed by Plattsburgh State (74), SUNY Canton (100), and Johnson State (105). Freshman AJ Beers ( Square, NY) came in second place with a time of 17:22 (5:36 mile), 34 seconds off the pace of the top finisher, and was he was followed by classmate Matt Danosky (Attleboro, MA) just a second later. Sophomore Lukas Patrizio (Port Chester, NY) took fifth place in 17:40 and another freshman, Kris Lizins (Elverson, PA) came in seventh to round out the scoring. Freshmen Taylor Fenoff (Saratoga Springs, NY), Jacob Erdman (Gouverneur, NY), and Michael Fife (Alton, NH) closed out the top 10 for the Knights. On the women's side, sophomore Victoria Hathaway (Troy, NY) came in second place with a time of 21:12, 12 seconds shy of the top time. Senior Sarah Governale (Wading River, NY) took third in 21:23, while freshman Tara Siegle (Poland, NY) came in fourth in 21:59 and junior Lindsey McCormick (Gouverneur, NY) crossed the finish line at 22:12. McCormick's classmate Ashley Forshey (Scotia, NY) closed out the Clarkson scoring by coming in seventh in 22:53, but Allie Day (North Yarmouth, ME) and Chelsea Farinacci (Huntington, NY) were right behind her in eighth and ninth, respectively.  

Aug 30. It didn't take long – just 16:48 to be precise – for Nathan Doyle to turn some heads while running for the Plattsburgh State men's cross country team. Taking part in his first collegiate five-kilometer race, the freshman out of Pittsford, N.Y., turned in a first-place finish in a time of 16:48 to lead the Cardinals to a second-place finish at the SUNY Canton Kangaroo Invitational on Saturday morning. Doyle traversed the course 34 seconds quicker than his nearest competitor did and the Cardinals corralled 46 team points during the race. Clarkson (25 points) took home the team title. Fellow freshman Brian Kennedy joined Doyle as a top-five finisher. The native of East Islip, N.Y., put forth a time of 17:34 to finish in fifth place. Junior Jason Flach opened up his third season of competition by placing 11th in a time of 18:07 while first-year runner Brian Abbey closed out the pack of Plattsburgh State runners who finished in the top 20 by crossing the finish line in 18th place (18:30). Sophomore Joseph Nichols was the fifth-best Cardinal runner on the day as he placed 25th in a time of 19:02. Two other first-year collegiate cross country runners – Christian Whalen (26th, 19:05) and Marving Francois (35th, 20:02) – rounded out the contingent of Cardinal runners. On Saturday, Sept. 6, the Cardinals will make their home debut by racing in the annual Cardinal Classic. The five-kilometer race is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m., directly outside of the Field House. 

Runners from St. Lawrence University, Plattsburgh State, and Ithaca College all stay close in the front pack of the race at the St. Lawrence University Invitational. (Sam Wangerin photo) 

Runners from St. Lawrence, SUNY Plattsburgh and Clarkson keep a steady pace across open field at S.L.U.'s 27th annual Ronald Hoffman Invitational.   The 20th-ranked St. Lawrence University women's cross country team placed four runners in the top-five scoring positions to easily win the 27th Annual Ronald C. Hoffmann Invitational at St. Lawrence on Saturday afternoon. Mary Terhune finished the 6K cross country course in 23:03.29 seconds. She was 16.38 seconds behind the individual winner, Jenna Van Vliet of Carleton University. St. Lawrence totaled just 19 points to easily win the six-team meet, with Clarkson second and SUNY Plattsburgh was third. Norwich, coached by former St. Lawrence cross country runner and assistant coach Seth Jackson '12, finished fourth with 118 points.  (Zach Matthie photo)

Nov. 22: St. Lawrence University's women's cross country team place four runners in the top 30 and earned the second podium finish in program history at the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships at the Kings Island Golf Center in Mason, OH on Saturday, finishing third. The Saints, making their seventh straight championship appearance and ninth overall, had their fifth top ten finish and the second best in program history, trailing only the second place 2009 team. SLU finished with 138 points, trailing only Johns Hopkins which had 87 and MIT which finished with 112. The top three teams finished exactly in the same positions as the final national poll going into the meet. Senior Cassia Hameline, running her first season of cross country, earned All America honors and was the top Saint finisher with an eighth place finish in 21:51.5. She is the fourth Saint runner in program history to have a top ten finish, joining two-time champion Wendy Pavlus, Johanna Ludington and Amy Cymerman. "We ran about as well as we possibly could," said Saint coach Mike Howard. "We have an extremely young team...even Cassie as a senior is really a rookie...and while I was real confident going in because of the way we have run up to this point, nerves are always an issue in this kind of race. We talked about our race plan for the last couple of days and we went out real aggressive right from the start. They carried out the plan marvelously." First Year Megan Kellogg was the second Saint finisher and will be the first rookie All America in Saint program history after an 11th place finish in 21:57.1. Kellogg was the top first year finisher in the race and recorded the best first year finish in Saint program history. The previous best was a 39th place finish by Ella Martin in 2012. Senior Anne Martino and sophomore Lisa Grohn were the other top 30 finishers for the Saints with Martino in 21st in 22:19.1 and Grohn in 26th in 22:20.9. Martino and Grohn both made dramatic improvements over their finishes of a year ago with Martino moving up 71 places and Grohn 36. They join Hameline and Kellogg as All America, giving the Saints four in one year for the first time in program history. "Four All Americas in one race is pretty impressive," Howard said. "Megan Kellogg ran lights out. She has continued to get better and better in each of the last couple of weeks. She got out a little slower than we wanted…she was caught up in some traffic and stuck back in the 70s and 80s, but she put in a lot of work to move up. You don't usually see that kind of composure in any runner, to say nothing of a rookie." First Year Ashley Leta completed the Saint scoring with a 115th place finish in 23:21.5 while Carrie Pomainville was sixth in 178th, running 23:47.7 and Anna Rabideau finished 238th in 24:23.7. "Johns Hopkins and MIT have veteran teams, but I think we put a little fear in them. We were even with them, or even a little ahead through the top four runners. Their experience and depth made a difference…not to take anything away from Ashley Leta, our fifth finisher, who ran a gutsy race over the last 1000 meters to move by a number of runners and lock up third for us." Howard added.

Nov. 15: Two big moves by rookies over the final 2000 meters of Saturday's NCAA Atlantic Region Cross Country Championship at Genesee Valley Park in Rochester made a huge difference for St. Lawrence University's nationally second-ranked cross country team. Megan Kellogg moved up four spots over the final 2000 meters to finish third overall and Carrie Pomainville passed five runners to move into 30th at the finish and the points gained were enough to give the Saints a 50-51 win over Geneseo in the first head-to-head meeting between the two state powers this season. "We knew going into the race that Geneseo was a very talented, veteran team so it was going to be a battle and it certainly played out that way," said Saint coach Mike Howard.   Both the Saints and Geneseo advance to the NCAA Division III Championships in Ohio Nov. 22 as the automatic qualifiers from the Atlantic Region while Oneonta, which finished third, fourth place Cortland and perhaps others from the 39-team regional field will have to wait and see if they land at large bids. The Atlantic region title was the fifth for the Saints since 2009 and they will be going to nationals as a team for the seventh straight year. Geneseo, ranked second in the region and fifth in the national polls, led the Saints at both the 2000 and 4000 meter marks in the race, but Saint runners steadily moved up to position themselves for the strong final third of the 6000 meter race. Senior Cassia Hameline and sophomore Lisa Grohn ran in the top ten from the start of the race, and Kellogg, 12th after 2000 meters, made a move in the second 2000, moving into seventh before a strong final 2K to help power the Saint surge past Geneseo in the team standings. Hameline finished second overall behind individual champion Amy Regan of Stevens Institute, who won the race in 21:05.8. Hameline ran 21:26.2 with Kellogg finishing in 21:34.5. Anne Martino was seventh in 21:44.1 and Grohn finished eighth in 21:56.7 to give the Saints four in the top ten. "I'm extremely proud of this team. We graduated eight talented seniors last year so our success this season was going to require huge improvements from our upperclass ladies and big time performances from our rookies, both delivered today. Cassie continued to run remarkably, Anne Martino, a senior with four years of NCAA experience ran big time over the last mile to gain a few critical spots and our first-year class, Kellogg, who may have run the best rookie race I have ever seen, Pomainville and Leta, ran lights out finishing as three of the top four first-year runners in the region," Howard added. Geneseo had its scorers in with three in the top ten and five in the top 17, but Pomainville's move from 35th to 30th over the final 2000 meters was the key to the Saint win as the Saint top five finished a point ahead of Geneseo. Pomainville ran 22:39.1 with her strong finish while Ashley Leta was the sixth Saint finisher in 37th in 22:47.3 and Anna Rabideau was 99th in 23:53.9.

Aug 30. With more than half of the top 10 constituted of Clarkson University Cross Country members, the Golden Knights' men's and women's runners dominated the 2014 Kangaroos Cross Country Invitational on Saturday. Men's Race Results Women's Race Results The Golden Knights' men had three of the top five, seven of the top 10, 10 of the top 15 and 18 of the top 30, Clarkson scored just 25 points in the 5,000-meter event at SUNY Canton. Plattsburgh was second at 46, followed by Johnson State (98), host SUNY Canton (104) and Potsdam State (108). The women weren't quite so dominant overall (14 of the top 30 total, but four of the top five and seven of the top 10), but actually scored lower with just 21 points with the fifth runner taking seventh overall. Potsdam State was a distant second (71), followed by Plattsburgh State (74), SUNY Canton (100), and Johnson State (105). Freshman AJ Beers ( Square, NY) came in second place with a time of 17:22 (5:36 mile), 34 seconds off the pace of the top finisher, and was he was followed by classmate Matt Danosky (Attleboro, MA) just a second later. Sophomore Lukas Patrizio (Port Chester, NY) took fifth place in 17:40 and another freshman, Kris Lizins (Elverson, PA) came in seventh to round out the scoring. Freshmen Taylor Fenoff (Saratoga Springs, NY), Jacob Erdman (Gouverneur, NY), and Michael Fife (Alton, NH) closed out the top 10 for the Knights. On the women's side, sophomore Victoria Hathaway (Troy, NY) came in second place with a time of 21:12, 12 seconds shy of the top time. Senior Sarah Governale (Wading River, NY) took third in 21:23, while freshman Tara Siegle (Poland, NY) came in fourth in 21:59 and junior Lindsey McCormick (Gouverneur, NY) crossed the finish line at 22:12. McCormick's classmate Ashley Forshey (Scotia, NY) closed out the Clarkson scoring by coming in seventh in 22:53, but Allie Day (North Yarmouth, ME) and Chelsea Farinacci (Huntington, NY) were right behind her in eighth and ninth, respectively.  

Aug 30. Employing a six-woman team comprised mostly of underclassmen, the Plattsburgh State women's cross country team raced to a third-place finish in its season-opening race at the SUNY Canton Kangaroo Invitational on Saturday afternoon. The Cardinals put up 74 team points to beat out both SUNY Canton and Johnson State. Clarkson netted a total of 21 team points to take home the title while SUNY Potsdam amassed 71 points to edge out Plattsburgh State for the runner-up spot.  Freshman Jessie Smillie put forth the only top-ten finish of the day for Plattsburgh State when the product of Bohemia, N.Y., crossed the end line in a 10th-place time of 23:27.  After Smillie's splendid debut race was in the books, a trio of Cardinal racers checked in as top-20 finishers. Sophomore Brianna Bessette completed the five-kilometer course in 15th-place time of 24:13.  Hot on the heels of Bessette was the first-year duo of Caitlin O'Donnell and Emily Haig. O'Donnell recorded a 16th-place finish in 24:16 while Haig checked in in 17th place with a time of 24:17. Junior Kelsey McNally rounded out the group of top-five Plattsburgh State finishers by completing the course in 24:58 - good for 22nd place.  Plattsburgh State newcomer Lien Manly was the final Cardinal to cross the finish line as she began her collegiate cross country career with a 32nd-place finish in 26:32.  On Saturday, Sept. 6, the Cardinals will make their home debut by racing in the annual Cardinal Classic. The five-kilometer race is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m., directly outside of the Field House. 

Aug 30. Freshman Samantha Smith (Mooers Forks, NY) crossed the line in sixth place overall leading the SUNY Canton women's cross country team to a fourth place finish at the second annual Kangaroo Invitational on Saturday afternoon. Smith covered the 5-kilometer course in 22:20 in her first collegiate race. Keara Byrne (Queensbury, NY) posted a time of 24:34 to place 19th individually. Meanwhile, Kim McCarthy (Ludlow, MA) finished third for the Roos in a time of 25:44 good for 28th. Freshmen Rachel Youngers (Evans, NY) and Patti Carpenter (Penfield, NY) rounded out the top five SUNY Canton finishers crossing the line in 31st and 40th place, respectively. Laura DiFrenza (Salt Point, NY) and Bri Herd (Rochester, NY) also turned in top 50 performances for the Roos. The Roos posted a team score of 100 points in the five-team event edging out Johnson State College (105). Clarkson University took home the team title with 21 points, while SUNY Potsdam (71) and SUNY Plattsburgh (74) battled it out for second and third place, respectively.   Full Results The women's cross country team is back in action Sunday, September 7 when they travel to Castleton, VT to take part in the Castleton State Invitational.