The Fairfield University men’s and women’s cross country teams traveled to Lehigh University’s Goodman Campus Cross Country Course this past Saturday, Sept. 30, to participate in the Paul Short Run. This was the third meet of the season for the Stags and they were looking to build off of their performance at the Jasper Fall XC Invite in Montgomery, N.Y., on Sep. 16.
Out of an extremely competitive pool of 47 teams from the East Coast, the Stags placed 45th. The top three placing teams in this race were Central Connecticut State University, Shippensburg University and George Washington University, according to the event’s official recap.
The individual champion in this race was Jacob Ireland of Columbia University, finishing with a blazing time of 24:36.8 for the 8 kilometer course. The runner up was Samuel Whittaker of Central Connecticut State University with a time of 24:42.9, followed by Elyas Ayyoub of Long Island University with a time of 24:59.2 which would be good for 3rd place in the event.
As for the Stags, the first to cross the finish line was Alex Petersen ‘26, continuing to build on his strong season as he finished the course with a time of 28:05.8. The next finisher for the Stags was Olli Muniz ‘27, who clocked in a time of 28:10.5. Coming in third for the Stags was Kenny Power ‘27, who finished with a time of 28:13.4.
The next pack of Stags to come in would be graduate student Robert Dillon, Jack Putnam ‘26 and Chase Orcuich ‘27. They would finish the course in times of 28:29.3, 28:34.2 and 29:23.9, accordingly. Ryan Lindley ‘26 crossed the finish line in 29:45.3 and rounding out the Stags’ top 8 was Colin Shand ‘27, who finished the 8k course with a time of 30:15.5.
As for the women’s cross country team they placed 39th out of 43 teams in a strong pool of teams from up and down the east coast. The top three placing teams in this race were New York University, Duquesne University and Lynchburg College.
The individual champion in this race was Lauren Tunnell of Virginia Commonwealth University, finishing with a blistering time of 21:11.0 for the 6 kilometer course, according to the event’s official recap. The runner up was Christine Mancini of La Salle University, with a time of 21:13.4, followed by Grace Richardson of New York University, with a time of 21:22.4, which would be good for third place.
The story for the Stags’ was the incredible performances of the first-years. All of their top three runners were first-years and their top runner was Mia Strazzella ‘27, who clocked in a blistering 23:42.2. She was followed by Natalie Haracz ‘27 and Isabella Colabastistto’27, who finished with times of 24:08.7 and 25:04.1 respectively.
The next pack for the Stags’ were a pair of Senior captains in Catherine Lanahan ‘24 and Emily Dalla Riva ‘24. They finished the 6 kilometer course with times of 25:14.5 and 25:16.7, respectively.
The final pack of Stags that rounded out the top 8 were Megan Furlong ‘26, Claire Mason ‘24 and Michaela Kenny ‘27. They finished the course with times of 25:28.7, 25:52.6 and 26:08.1 respectively. Next weekend, the Stags travel to Boston, Mass., to compete at the New England Championships at Franklin Park on Saturday, Oct. 7.
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