While the temperature may have been hot down in Orlando, Florida for the 2004 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference’s Cross Country Championship, the Fairfield men’s and women’s cross country team’s seemed to be cold, as neither team was able to improve upon their team standing in the conference.
The women, led by senior captain Lauren Wilson’s 17 place finish, maintained their position in the MAAC, finishing sixth out of ten teams. The men’s team dropped a spot in the conference, finishing seventh behind captain Bryan Mahoney’s 25 place overall finish.
While each team had hopes of improving their standings under the tutelage of new coaches Jenn Wyshner and Mike Owens, neither was capable of accomplishing their goals, with both teams surprised with the outcomes.
“Obviously we didn’t perform as well as we expected,” said co-captain Justin Rindos, who finished 35 overall, covering the five-mile course in 27:30. “We felt we should have run our fastest times of the year with such a flat course and good weather, but psychologically I guess it just threw us for a loop.”
Maryellen Pribish ’07 agreed with Rindos, feeling that the women put in the effort but simply couldn’t pull through.
“I think the team worked hard enough,” she said. “We just didn’t do as well as we thought.”
For the female Stags, Wilson ran the 6,000 meter course in a time of 23:04, followed by Shannon Kenefick ’06 in 21 with a time of 23:23 and Stephanie Stote ’05 running a time of 23:38 for a 27 overall finish.
Mahoney led the men with a time of 27:01, followed by Rindos and A.J. Kastanotis ’06, who finished in 28:29.
With the conference championships behind them, the Stags get set for the NCAA Regional Qualifiers on November 13, at Van Courtlandt Park in the Bronx. They will return to Van Courtlandt a week later for their last meet of the season for the ECAC/IC4A races. Both teams hope to see continued improvement throughout the rest of the season.
“A lot of us have been improving every race and IC4A’s is a good way to finish the season since we return to Van Courtlandt for one last time,” said Rindos. “It will give us a chance to see how much we’ve improved.”
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