The Boston University men’s and women’s cross country teams found success this Halloween in the Patriot League Championships hosted at Colgate University’s Harry Lang Cross Country Course on Saturday.
The men’s team, picked third in preseason polls, surpassed expectations and finished in second place on the day with 88 points, behind the United States Naval Academy (19 points), which won its third straight title.
Senior Kevin Thomas paced the Terriers, finishing in fifth place as one of only two BU runners to finish in the top 10. The Marshfield native finished with a time of 25:02.9, with the winner, Navy’s Lucas Stalnaker, coming in at 25:00.2.
The other Terrier in the top 10 was freshman Alexander Seal, who finished in eighth place with an impressive time of 25:20.4. He was also named Patriot League Rookie of the Year at the event.
All five scorers for BU finished in the top 50.
The women’s team also had a strong showing Saturday, finishing in third place with 104 points. BU could not defend its title for a third straight year.
The Terriers could not overtake Bucknell University, who won the event with 34 points, followed by Navy with 51. However, BU did edge out the College of the Holy Cross, who finished in fourth place, gaining another point in the Turnpike Trophy standings.
Senior Shelby Stableford set the pace for BU, finishing in fifth place with a time of 21:37.8. Led by the Colorado Springs, Colorado, native, the Terriers had four women place in the top 25.
Freshman Courtney Breiner continued her strong debut season by finishing in 18th place (22:16.6), followed by junior Hallie Armstrong in 21st (22:23.8). Another freshman, Jamie Grossman, rounded out the top 25 with a time of 22:29.4.
Rowing finds success at Princeton Chase
The BU men’s and women’s rowing teams continued their impressive seasons with strong showings at the Princeton 3-Mile Chase on Sunday.
The men’s team, racing against a number of Division I schools for the second time in two weeks, earned a victory in the varsity four race for the second straight year.
“We are really pleased with the win in the varsity four,” said BU rowing coach Thomas Bohrer in a BU Athletics release. “We won this event last year, so it was gratifying to finish first again. We did not have our best race in the varsity eight, so it was motivating for the guys to go back out and finish off the day with a win.”
Coxed by senior Maggie Read and stroked by senior Mackenzie Copp, the Terriers’ “A” boat completed the course with a time of 14:57.60, just ahead of Cornell University.
BU’s first varsity eight, coxed by sophomore MacKenzie Hart and stroked by junior Aleksandar Marinkovski, finished fourth with a time of 13:12.09.
The women’s team found similar success, keyed by a win and a fifth-place finish in the novice eight race.
In the women’s varsity eight race, the Terriers’ lightweight boat took third, finishing just behind Harvard University and Princeton University, and 30th overall. Coxed by senior Allison Triola, the varsity eight finished with a time of 16:00.38.
Later on, the lightweights had two boats compete in the novice eight competition. The lightweight “A” boat won the race, while the lightweight “B” placed 11th. The lightweight “A” boat finished at the top of a field of 16 and was coxed by freshman Paulina Goossens and stroked by classmate Lucy Geraghty.
The openweights had four boats in the race, two each in the varsity eight and novice eight races. The novice “A” boat finished fifth in its race. Coxed by sophomore Emily Phaneuf and stroked by freshman Claire Murphy, the novice eight “A” closed with a time of 17:39.46, ahead of 12 other boats.
Both teams conclude their fall season Nov. 14 when they compete in the Foot of the Charles.
Men’s tennis closes fall schedule with Bryant Invitational
The BU men’s tennis team shut the door on the fall part of its 2015-16 slate at the Bryant Invitational in Smithfield, Rhode Island, on Saturday.
The Terriers were led by freshman Satyajit Simhadri, who won in both singles and doubles action. He lost just three games in his singles win (6-3, 6-0) and joined junior Miguel Cepeda for a three-set comeback victory against Corey DiPaola and John Templeman of Bryant University.
Juniors Lucas Bombonatti and Jake De Vries also earned wins in singles action with scores of 6-4, 7-6 and 6-7, 7-5, 1-0, respectively.
Jeff Chan and Josh Hurd, both freshmen, took another other doubles match for BU in straight sets (6-1, 6-2).
BU next opens its dual schedule Jan. 23 at home against the University of Hartford.
Nick Neville is a junior in COM studying journalism and the Sports Editor of the Daily Free Press. When he's not making a paper on Beacon Street, you can catch him working as a Sports Correspondent for the Boston Globe or helping to produce BU's only professional sports talk show, Offsides. Follow him on Twitter: @n_nebs95
